21772: Esser: Graham calls on Haiti to reconcile its past (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

The Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com

May. 8, 2004

Graham calls on Haiti to reconcile its past

Those guilty of offences must be brought to justice, Foreign Affairs
Minister says
By ESTANISLAO OZIEWICZ

Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham urged Haiti's interim government
to work toward reconciliation yesterday so that the Western
Hemisphere's poorest country can proceed to a general election.

Once the election is held, Mr. Graham said by telephone from
Port-au-Prince, Haiti could establish a South-African-style
reconciliation commission to deal with past injustices.

"The Canadian message is, as in everything in life, there is a
balance that we have to get right," he said after meeting interim
prime minister Gérard Latortue and President Boniface Alexandre.

"This is a transition government. It has to both be inclusive, but
also recognize that there may be those guilty of offences under the
previous government who ultimately will have to be brought to
justice."

But Leslie Voltaire, who was the cabinet minister responsible for
Haitians living abroad under Jean-Bertrand Aristide, complained in an
interview that Mr. Latortue's interim government has sidelined and
persecuted former members of the deposed president's administration
while continuing to allow rebels who launched the anti-Aristide
uprising to remain armed.

"This is not the way to begin national reconstruction," Mr. Voltaire
said. "We say the prime minister has to correct the way he is
governing."

Mr. Graham, who also met Mr. Voltaire while in Haiti, said he was
unaware of the complaints, but acknowledged that "the previous
government in Haiti was not exactly blameless in respect of many
activities. We know that the previous government distributed arms to
all sorts of people."

The Foreign Affairs Minister was part of a three-member cabinet
delegation sent for a one-day visit to demonstrate Canada's
commitment to Haiti's redevelopment following Mr. Aristide's
controversial overthrow earlier this year in an armed rebellion.

The 15-member Caricom group of Caribbean countries, angry about the
role the United States played in the change of power and rebuffed
earlier by the United Nations, said this week that it will ask the
Organization of American States to investigate Mr. Aristide's ouster.

Mr. Aristide maintains he was forced to resign by Washington.

Amnesty International said in a recent report that at least four
Aristide associates have been kidnapped, some former cabinet
ministers have been arrested and other citizens have been attacked or
harassed. It urged Mr. Latortue, who has called the rebels "freedom
fighters," to distance himself and act against those who have
criminal records or are known human rights violators.

Amnesty also noted Haiti's weak judiciary, lack of security, a
climate of impunity and the failure of Haitian police and the
international peacekeeping force to disarm militias.

Mr. Graham said that while his visit to Haiti was only hours long, he
was able to see conditions firsthand and was taken aback.

"One surprise, in the sense not something that one could ever
ascertain by reading reports, is the extraordinarily difficult
personal situation in which Haitians are living."

He said that it was sobering "just to drive around the streets, to
see the garbage, to see the conditions, to realize that one has
electricity in this city of Port-au-Prince for two hours a day on an
average."

Mr. Graham said he made it clear in his talks that while Ottawa is
committed to continuing to help Haiti rebuild, Canadians do not want
their financial contributions squandered.

International Co-operation Minister Aileen Carroll, who was also in
Haiti yesterday as part of the delegation, announced that the
Canadian International Development Agency would be providing
$2-million to support health, education, human rights and efforts to
stop violence against women.

 © 2004 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc.
.