22320: (Chamberlain) Americas-Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MONTE HAYES

   QUITO, Ecuador, June 9 (AP) -- The Organization of American States
called for elections in Haiti as soon as possible and opened the way for an
investigation into the ouster of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   Over the objections of the United States and Haiti's new government, the
OAS General Assembly approved a resolution Tuesday night noting Aristide's
ouster was unconstitutional and allowing an assessment of what occurred.
   Aristide accuses the United States of forcing him from office -- a
charge Washington denies. A U.S.-supplied jet flew Aristide to the Central
African Republic on Feb. 29 as rebels advanced on the Haitian capital of
Port-au-Prince, and he is now in asylum in South Africa after spending
several weeks in Jamaica.
   Foreign ministers from around the Americas also declared war on the
deeply ingrained corruption in the region at the end of a two-day meeting
in this Andean capital.
   The ministers committed their nations to undertaking "all the diplomatic
initiatives necessary" to promote democracy in Haiti.
   They invoked Article 20 of the organization's charter, which allows it
to undertake a "collective assessment" of a country "in the event of
unconstitutional alterations of the constitutional regime that seriously
impairs the democratic order."
   In a resolution, the foreign minister urged "the transitional government
in Haiti to create conditions conducive to the holding of free, fair and
democratic elections in Haiti as soon as possible."
   Haiti's new government and U.S. officials were opposed to invoking
Article 20, but CARICOM, a grouping of Caribbean nations, insisted on its
inclusion and the debate dragged on for hours Tuesday, delaying the closure
of the assembly.
   After Aristide's ouster, multinational forces entered the country to
re-establish order under the authority of the United Nations Security
Council.
   The 15-member Caribbean Community still refuses to recognize Haiti's new
government.
   In other discussions, Secretary of State Colin Powell urged nations to
"advance democratic governance and economic growth in this region" by
fighting corruption.
   "Corruption is deeply destructive of our people's faith in democracy,"
he said Monday during a debate on the general assembly's final document.
"Corruption scares off investors, denying countries the money they need to
lift themselves out of poverty and onto the road to sustainable
development."
   The document, signed by 34 foreign ministers or heads of delegations,
recognizes "that corruption has a serious impact on public and private
institutions, weakens economic growth and impinges upon the needs and
fundamental interests of a country's most vulnerable social groups."
   The foreign ministers pledged to keep corrupt officials from entering
their countries and agreed to cooperate in the recovery of stolen funds.
   But the general assembly rejected a Peruvian proposal calling for
countries to extradite officials accused of corruption. The Peruvian
government had hoped the measure would help its effort to extradite former
President Alberto Fujimori from Japan, where he took refuge after his
government collapsed in a corruption scandal in 2000.
   Mexico, which has a long history of providing refugee to officials who
say they are fleeing political persecution, opposed Peru's proposal.
   The United States also was unsuccessful in persuading other hemispheric
nations to agree to impose sanctions on corrupt governments.
   "Governments are not corrupt," Peruvian Foreign Minister Manuel
Rodriguez told The Associated Press during a break in the debate. "Members
of a given government are corrupt."