21309: Lemieux: UN News: UN avoids Aristides removal in meeting with CARICOM (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

UN avoids Aristide’s removal in meeting with
CARICOM
4/13/2004
Havanna

 UNITED NATIONS (PL)— Louise Frechette, the UN
deputy secretary general, avoided the
embarrassing removal of Haiti’s constitutionally
elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, during
the opening of a meeting with Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) representatives.

In spite of it being a grave issue that is still
pending, Frechette only alluded to the country’s
crisis in relation to a projected operation by UN
peacekeeping troops starting June 1.

The upcoming deployment was authorized by the
Security Council, which likewise has ignored a
CARICOM call, shared by the African Union, for an
investigation of the circumstances under which
Aristide was removed from office.

According to claims by Aristide, whose country is
the 15th member of CARICOM, the U.S. and France
conspired to kidnap him and force him into exile.

In her sole veiled allusion to the subject,
Frechette admitted, “Haitians are frustrated by
and disappointed in the international community,
as well as with our own leadership.”

She said that the UN secretary general would
explore with CARICOM how the latter could best
contribute to “our Haitian associates” – meaning
the government installed in the country without
full recognition.

Frechette mentioned other concerns in the region
such as threats to security, among them political
violence, money laundering and drug trafficking.

She also recalled that after sub-Saharan Africa,
the Caribbean has the second- largest HIV/AIDS
epidemic among young people.

The two-day meeting is also expected to review
the progress of the Barbados Action Program for
small islands in development.





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