22985: Esser: Divided over Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser <torx@joimail.com>

The Nation [Barbados]
http://www.nationnews.com/
StoryView.cfm?Record=52550&Section=LO&Current=2004-08-17%2000%3A00%3A00

Divided over Haiti
Tuesday 17, August-2004

CARICOM leaders appear headed for a stalemate over Haiti.

Yesterday’s deadline for the region to respond to a proposal by the
bureau of leaders on the crucial issue of diplomatic relations with
Port-au-Prince passed without any clear indication as to the next
move.

However, diplomatic sources said yesterday the most likely outcome
would be no decision at this time, meaning that CARICOM would be
unable to reach a consensus, the usual method of making decisions on
thorny issues.

But should the region as a group fail to act, it may leave the door
open to individual states to “engage” with Haiti on their own,
instead of waiting for regional action.

Jamaica and The Bahamas already have diplomatic ties with
Port-au-Prince.

“We expect that by the time all of the responses have been received
from the prime ministers and presidents, it would become clear that
the region is deadlocked and must await a meeting of the leaders
scheduled for early November in Port-of-Spain,” said a Government
official familiar with the situation.

“It is unfortunate that events have turned out this way because some
action must be taken if we are to play a responsible role in the
rehabilitation of Haiti following the events of February when the
elected president, Jean Bertrand Aristide, was ousted, ‘kidnapped’ or
left of his own free will after surveying the options,” said the
official.

CARICOM leaders were asked late last month by the Bureau comprising
Antigua, Grenada and Suriname to respond to a suggestion that the
region “engage” the interim Haiti government headed by Prime Minister
Gerard LaTortue. The use of the word “engage’ was in itself a
diplomatic compromise designed to avoid conflict.

The Bureau, which makes certain decisions for CARICOM in between
summits of the leaders, met in Grenada last month and recommended
engagement as distinct from “diplomatic recognition” or
“normalisation of relations”.

Sources said the foreign ministers of Barbados, The Bahamas, Guyana
and Trinidad and Tobago who spent about a day in Haiti meeting with
government and opposition leaders, had proposed some kind of link
with Haiti, preferably “normalisation of relations”.

But even before the ink was dry, St Lucia objected to the sending of
the mission itself and St Vincent used strong diplomatic language to
voice its objection to any engagement with Haiti.

Dominica has since aligned itself with its two Eastern Caribbean
neighbours, leaving the region divided between the “hardliners” which
oppose any diplomatic links with LaTortue – Guyana, St Vincent, St
Lucia and Dominica – and the “compromisers” – The Bahamas, Barbados,
Antigua and Trinidad and Tobago.
.