21702: (Chamberlain) New CEP sworn in (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By AMY BRACKEN

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 4 (AP) -- A provisional council was sworn in Tuesday
to oversee fresh elections in Haiti, while Canada said it would extend its
security duty for at least another two months to ease the arrival of U.N.
mission.
   Most of the 500 Canadian troops will be sent home from Haiti by the end
of the month and replaced by a fresh contingent, said Kenneth Cook,
Canadian ambassador to Haiti.
   The U.N. Security Council has authorized a force of 8,000 peacekeepers
and police for a wide-ranging mission that begins June
   The U.N. force will replace the 3,600-member contingent from the United
States, Canada, Chile and France, in place since the Feb. 29 ouster of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   Caribbean leaders have tentatively agreed to contribute peacekeepers and
police to the U.N. mission, but the 15-member Caribbean Community will
decide in July during its annual summit in Grenada, Jamaican Prime Minister
P.J. Patterson said Tuesday.
   Meanwhile, the swearing-in of the new electoral council will likely
jump-start the Caribbean country's frozen electoral process, paving the way
for a long-awaited parliamentary vote.
   The council has eight delegates from sectors including religious,
business and social groups, but a ninth seat reserved for Aristide's
Lavalas party remained unfilled.
   The party has refused to name a member to the council unless interim
Prime Minister Gerard Latortue signs an agreement to protect Lavalas
members, halt illegal arrests and disarm rebels and gangs whose three-week
revolt drove Aristide from power.
   Latortue said he agreed to the demands in principle but would not sign
the document before Lavalas named a representative to the council.
   Establishing a council to organize fresh elections has dogged Haitian
leaders since Aristide's Lavalas Family party swept disputed legislative
elections in 2000.
   Over the next three years, the political opposition boycotted the
electoral process and refused to send delegates to the council.
   Legislative elections constitutionally required for last year did not
take place, rendering parliament powerless when most of its members' terms
expired in January.