22916: Esser: Hopes fade for Haiti's early return to Caricom (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Trinidad and Tobago Express
http://www.trinidadexpress.com

Hopes fade for Haiti's early return to Caricom
Criticisms of 'haste' as Gonsalves talks boycott
By Rickey Singh
Sunday, August 8th 2004



BRIDGETOWN-Hopes of Haiti's early return to active participation in
the Caribbean Community (Caricom) are rapidly fading with the
emergence of new reservations ahead of a scheduled special summit of
the Community leaders in Trinidad and Tobago.

Reaching consensus on a call for "full engagement" by Caricom with
the interim Haitian regime in Port-au-Prince, as recommended by a
meeting of the Caricom Bureau in Grenada on July 28, now seems in
jeopardy, the Sunday Express was told yesterday.

The "full engagement" proposal is based on a report to the Bureau
from the delegation of Community Foreign Ministers that went to Haiti
last month, following the 25th Caricom summit in Grenada to assess
the political situation and hold talks with interim Prime Minister,
Gerard Latortue.

With the threat of a likely majority decision being implemented, in
accordance with Article 28 of the revised Caricom Treaty, ministerial
sources said yesterday some heads of Government had been quietly
communicating with each other on the implications of not securing
unanimity "since the norm is to avoid divisions on contentious
issues". 

Three heads of Government have already spoken out against what they
view as  "an amazing rush" to resolve the impasse over  a proposed
"full enagement" process with the interim Haitian regime in
Port-au-Prince before a "face-to-face meeting" of Community leaders
planned for the first week in November in Port-of-Spain.

They are Prime Ministers Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the
Grenadines and Kenny Anthony of St Lucia and the President of Guyana,
Bharrat Jagdeo.

The Guyanese Head of State said he was "quite amazed" with the speed
at which moves have been made since the conference in Grenada last
month, to push the controversial Haiti issue for a final resolution.

"In some ways the rush is quite unprecedented", he said, adding that
he would reserve further public comment after he responds to  a
Caricom Bureau's proposal on the Haitian problem by August 16.

Jagdeo said his Community partners would be aware that "the issue of
ensuring constitutional governance was not disrupted by coups or
political violence remains of deep concern to Guyana".

Prime Minister Gonsalves has, however,  gone much further in
declaring he would boycott any Caricom meeting at which interim Prime
Minister Latortue is present before  "we (heads of Government) can
arrive  at a  final resolutuon based on our earlier principled stand"
which followed the removal from power of President Jean Bertrand
Aristide.

While not stating that he might eventually adopt a similar position,
Prime Minister Anthony, who has lead responsibility for Governance
and Justice among Caricom leaders, told the Sunday Express: "I am
currently in the process of responding to a communication from the
Community Secretariat, having earlier sent a letter to Prime Minister
Keith Mitchell, and therefore wish to say very little now as I
observe the puzzling haste, quite unprecedented really, by which
developments have taken place within the past few weeks to get Haiti
on board...."

Anthony said the Haiti issue "remains exceedingly troubling, and as a
Community we have an obligation to avoid endangering our unity and
commitment  by  any hasty decision that could compromise the very
integrity of a movement we have worked so hard to build".




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