22705: (Hermantin) Sun-Sentinel-Good News From Caricom (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Good News From Caricom

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
Posted July 15 2004

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There hasn't been much good news out of Haiti in a while, but that changed
Wednesday when a delegation of Caribbean foreign ministers from Guyana,
Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, and the Bahamas said it would
recommend the 15-nation Caribbean Community organization establish ties with
Haiti's interim government.

Caricom, as the group is informally known, froze relations with Haiti after
the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Feb. 29. Aristide and
supporters inside and outside of Haiti charged his government fell victim to
a U.S.-managed coup.

Displeased by the circumstances under which Aristide, an elected and
constitutional president, was forced from office, Caricom snubbed the
interim government. Acting Prime Minister Gerard Latortue's subsequent
praise for the rebels who sent Aristide fleeing widened the rupture.

A fruitful meeting this week between a Caricom delegation and Latortue seems
to have soothed old wounds. Because of the talks in Port-au-Prince, Caricom
diplomats are confident Haiti will hold free and fair elections next year to
select new leaders.

"We have been reassured by Latortue that in 2005 there will be elections --
parliamentary, presidential and local elections -- and then in February of
2006 a new president will take power," said Billie Miller, Barbados' foreign
minister. "We've been assured of clean elections, no reprisals, and that
known criminals will be prosecuted."

The Caricom officials did not name any other outstanding issues, but in the
past have said they want to see rebels disarmed and receive assurances from
Haitian officials that former Aristide allies in the Lavalas Party will get
fair trials. One of those is ex-Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, who is jailed
and awaiting trial on accusations he orchestrated political killings.

Caricom has viable concerns, but ending the impasse could pave the way for
Caricom's participation in a security force to help bring much-needed
stability and security to Haiti's capital and other cities and towns. And
support from Caricom could sway international organizations to supply Haiti
with the $1.3 billion the World Bank claims the country needs over the next
two years to rebuild and fight poverty.

It's a hopeful sign that Haitians are burying the hatchet with their
Caribbean neighbors. Real progress will come when they find ways to settle
differences among themselves.

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