22611: (Chamberlain) Caribbean Summit (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By BERT WILKINSON

   ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada, July 3 (AP) -- Caribbean leaders will consider
recognizing Haiti's U.S.-backed interim government at a summit, despite
lingering concerns over former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's ouster.
   Several leaders in the region say it's time to move forward, after
persuading the Organization of American States to investigate what Aristide
calls his Feb. 29 "kidnapping" by the United States -- a charge Washington
denies.
   "We were all troubled when the elected president had to leave the
country under some strange circumstances," Grenada's Prime Minister Keith
Mitchell told Parliament on Friday. "However, the reality is that Haiti
continues to be a member of the international community and the people
there do need our support, so we have to find ways of compromising."
   The four-day Caribbean Community summit begins Sunday in Grand Anse,
just south of the Grenadian capital, St. George's.
   Seven Caribbean prime ministers were to meet Haitian Foreign Minister
Yvon Simeon on Saturday night as a step toward possible recognition, a
senior official of the Caribbean Community economic bloc said on condition
of anonymity.
   "Depending on what happens at the meeting, it will determine whether we
move forward," the official said, adding the meeting comes a day after
leaders had a cordial talk by telephone with Haiti's interim Prime Minister
Gerard Latortue.
   The 15-nation community withheld support for Latortue's government
during a March summit in St. Kitts, expressing concern about the
circumstances of Aristide's departure and Latortue's praise for armed
rebels who still control much of Haiti's countryside.
   Latortue did not attend the March summit to protest Jamaica giving
Aristide temporary exile on that island just 100 miles from Haiti. Aristide
left Jamaica for South Africa on May 30 and Latortue -- who had said he was
suspending Haiti's membership in the community -- has since made
conciliatory statements.
   "A lot of things are happening behind the scenes," Prime Minister
Patrick Manning of Trinidad said recently, noting he had met with Latortue
at an international summit in Mexico in May. "What the entire Caribbean is
trying to do is to move on."
   Aristide left Haiti on Feb. 29 aboard a U.S.-chartered plane as rebels
advanced on the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. He charges he was
kidnapped by U.S. and French agents, but U.S. officials say they acted at
his request.
   His departure ended a three-week rebellion that left an estimated 300
dead. U.S.-led troops sent to stabilize Haiti were largely replaced last
month by a Brazilian-led U.N. peacekeeping force.
   Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said Thursday he was pleased with
the region's "principled position during the Haitian crisis, and the
unanimous condemnation of the serious threat to democracy."
   He also said Caribbean leaders would "continue to be engaged" in Haiti
and review efforts to provide aid.
   Haiti was the last nation to formally join the Community in 2002. Its
population of about 8 million is greater than all the remaining 14 member
states combined.
   Latortue was not expected to attend the four-day summit, but most other
leaders were.