22635: (Chamberlain) Caribbean-Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By BERT WILKINSON

   ST. GEORGE'S, Grenada, July 6 (AP) -- Caribbean leaders again withheld
recognition of Haiti's new U.S.-backed government Tuesday, opting instead
to send a delegation to the island nation to discuss their terms for
restoring ties, officials said.
   The decision came at a summit of the 15-member Caribbean Community, a
regional bloc that Haiti withdrew from after Jamaica gave temporary refuge
to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   The bloc raised concerns over Aristide's claim of a coup orchestrated by
the U.S. government and has since withheld support for the interim
government.
   "We have agreed to officially engage Haiti," St. Kitts and Nevis Prime
Minister Denzil Douglas told The Associated Press. "We were able to arrive
at a position that everyone finds comfort with."
   However, the leaders were expected to discuss the Haiti issue further
before the summit ends Wedneday, leaving open the possibility of a
resolution.
   Leaders from the region said they would send a team of five foreign
ministers to Haiti as soon as possible to discuss conditions for full
recognition of the interim government.
   Douglas said one of the conditions was to disarm rebels who staged the
rebellion against Aristide.
   Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and the
Bahamas have said they would support Haiti's return to the regional bloc.
Cabinet ministers from several other nations, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, also said they planned to follow suit and welcome Haiti's
return.
   St. Vincent would not back the recognition, according to Prime Minister
Ralph Gonsalves, and Belize, Trinidad, Barbados, Suriname and Grenada have
said they will support recognition only under certain conditions, including
setting a date for general elections and releasing Haiti's former Prime
Minister Yvon Neptune.
   Neptune went into hiding two weeks after Aristide's departure and turned
himself in to authorities last week to face accusations of orchestrating
political killings. He has denied wrongdoing.
   Aristide fled Haiti on Feb. 29 during a widespread uprising against his
rule and was flown to the Central African Republic aboard a flight arranged
by U.S. officials who deny they forced the embattled leader to leave his
country or resign.
   He arrived in Jamaica on March 15 and left May 30 for South Africa,
which has offered Aristide temporary asylum.