22915: Esser: Explosive rift over Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

The Jamaica Observer
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com

Explosive rift over Haiti
Jamaica working feverishly for Caricom consensus
Rickey Singh, Observer Caribbean correspondent
Sunday, August 08, 2004


Jamaica was working feverishly to get consensus as serious cracks
appeared last night in Caribbean Community (Caricom) unity over
claims there was an undue haste to re-integrate the interim regime in
Haiti in the regional grouping, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade
Minister Keith Knight confirmed.

Guyanese president Bharrat Jagdeo, St Lucian prime minister Kenneth
Anthony, and St Vincent and the Grenadines prime minister Ralph
Gonsalves, in strong language yesterday charged that there were moves
to abandon the principled stand taken by Caricom following the ouster
of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February this year.


The development followed a recommendation from the July 28 Caricom
Bureau meeting in Grenada for "full engagement" with Haiti, but the
three leaders insisted that this should not take place before a
scheduled special summit of the Community leaders in Trinidad and
Tobago in November.


Gonsalves, the most strident of the three heads of government, vowed
to boycott any Caricom meeting at which interim Haitian prime
minister Gerard Latortue was present, before "we can arrive at a
final resolution, based on our earlier principled stand" which
followed Aristide's removal from office.


Aristide said he was kidnapped by the United States with French
support and flown out of his country, as armed rebels advanced on the
capital, Port-au-Prince. The Americans have denied the claim.


Caricom condemned the developments and called for a United Nations
investigation into the circumstances leading to the former Haitian
leader's removal.


In the face of the strong disagreement among the Caricom heads, hopes
for Haiti's early return to active participation in the Community
dimmed rapidly yesterday, and consensus on the call for "full
engagement" seemed in jeopardy.

Jagdeo said he was "quite amazed" with the speed at which moves had
been made since their conference in Grenada last month, to push the
controversial Haiti issue for a final resolution. "In some ways, the
rush is quite unprecedented," he declared.

For his part, 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".

But last night, Knight said Jamaica was working hard to get consensus
among the Caricom states, on how the region should treat with the
Haitian people, even as the three Caricom heads distanced themselves
from the recommendation of the bureau.

"We are very committed to helping the Haitian people in their
institutional and capacity-building, working with the United Nations
mission in areas such as the Haitian police, the electoral system and
the administration of the country, to improve the life of the people
there," said Knight.

Knight said it was very important to ensure that mechanisms put in
place by Caricom to facilitate its involvement in the rebuilding of
Haiti be allowed to work.

The "full engagement" proposal was 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, to assess the
political situation and hold talks with Latortue.

With the threat of a likely majority decision being implemented, in
accordance with Article 28 of the revised Caricom Treaty, the Sunday
Observer was reliably informed yesterday that the three heads of
government had been quietly communicating with each other on the
implications of such a development since the norm had been to avoid
"divisions on contentious issues".

Jagdeo said he would reserve further public comment until after he
had responded to a Caricom Bureau proposal on the Haitian problem by
August 16.

But he stressed that his Community partners would be aware that "the
issue of ensuring that constitutional governance is not disrupted by
coups or political violence remains of deep concern to Guyana".

Prime Minister Anthony, who has lead responsibility for Governance
and Justice among Caricom leaders, told the Sunday Observer that he
was currently in the process of responding to a communication from
the Community Secretariat, having earlier sent a letter to the
current Caricom chairman, Prime Minister Keith Mitchell of Grenada,
"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..."

He shared, he said, much of the sentiments expressed in a letter by
Prime Minister Gonsalves sent on August 5 to Mitchell, but was not
"disposed to say anything further at this stage".

In his letter to Mitchell, Gonsalves, who, along with Anthony and, to
a lesser extent, the president of Guyana, had adopted a tough stance
at last month's Caricom Summit on the terms of the interim Haitian
regime's participation in the regional grouping, said:

"President Jagdeo of Guyana knows that I went along at the Heads
Meeting in Grenada with the idea of sending Caricom foreign ministers
to Haiti ONLY (his emphasis) to preserve Caricom's unity. I will,
however, not be a part of a false unity which is based on an
abandonment of fundamental principles..."

The foreign ministers delegation was led by Barbados' foreign
minister Dame Billie Miller, current chair of the Caricom's Council
for Foreign and Community Affairs (COFCOR).

Added Gonsalves: "I reject the undue haste by Caricom on this issue
of Haiti. Never in the history of Caricom has it moved with such
expedition on an issue. Why?"

Gonsalves further expressed "shock" at the extent to which, he said,
"some in Caricom are going so as to prepare the ground to capitulate
on our earlier principled stand on Haiti. I know that the people of
the region will never forgive those who so capitulate..."

Prime Minister Mitchell, asked for his comment on Gonsalves'
position, in his capacity as Caricom chairman, said yesterday that
having presided over the Caricom Bureau meeting at which the
recommendation for full engagement was made, he was not prepared to
make any statement "before I have the opportunity to hear from all
the Heads of Government... I am, however, anxious that we preserve
our unity in seeking to do what's best for Haiti and our Community".

With additional reporting by Desmond Allen
.