22991: Esser: New move on Haiti dilemma (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

Trinidad & Tobago Express
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_opinion?id=34038894

New move on Haiti dilemma

By Rickey Singh
Wednesday, August 18th 2004

INTENSIVE efforts were underway up to late yesterday for a special
meeting of the Caribbean Community's Heads of Government to resolve
lingering sharp differences over the participation in Caricom affairs
by the interim Haitian regime.

Spearheading the initiative for the meeting, possibly within the next
12 days, is the current Caricom chairman, Prime Minister Keith
Mitchell, who is hoping to be in a position to make a public
statement on the matter today.

What is at stake is the preservation of unity of the 31-year-old
economic integration movement of which crisis-ridden Haiti is its
newest member and a political headache for Caricom since accessing
membership some six years ago.

The intention of the special meeting is to find what one Prime
Minister yesterday described as a "practical compromise" that would
neither "endanger the integrity of the Community" nor "avoid an
inevitable decision" for the interim Haitian administration to be on
board, pending the outcome of new elections in 2005.

All sides in the impasse over the modalities of Caricom's
"engagement" with the interim Haitian regime of Prime Minister Gerard
Latortue are carefully managing their language in off-the-record
responses to avoid being categorised as either the "hardliners" or
"accommodationists".

However, by Monday, the majority of the 14 Heads of Government had
failed to officially communicate their respective responses to a
proposal from the Caricom Bureau to "fully engage" with the Latortue
regime on the basis of recommendations outlined by a fact-finding
ministerial mission to Port-au-Prince last month.

The thinking reflected at the Caricom Bureau meeting, chaired in St
George's by Prime Minister Mitchell, was to avoid the long wait until
a special Caricom Summit in Port of Spain in the first week in
November to resolve differences on the conditionalities for the
Latortue regime to participate in the councils of the Community.

Vehemently opposed to what they view as "unprecedented haste" to deal
with the Haitian situation-in contrast to advancing arrangements for
the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME)-have been the Prime
Ministers of St Vincent and the Grenadines (Ralph Gonsalves) and St
Lucia (Kenny Anthony) and, to a lesser extent, the President of
Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, and the Prime Minister of Dominica.

On the side of those favouring acceptance of recommendations emerging
from the Caricom Bureau meeting last month and disagreeing about
"undue haste", would be Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas,
Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda.

Jamaica is reported to be leaning more in favour of a decision at the
forthcoming November special summit in Port of Spain and its final
position could be crucial to a special meeting.

Prime Minister PJ Patterson had initiated and hosted an "emergency
summit" on March 3 this year, three days after the forced removal
from power of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who claimed he was
"kidnapped" from office.

By yesterday, according to informed sources, an emerging position
among some Heads of Government was that it may be "unwise" to allow
the impasse over Haiti's participation in Caricom's business to
linger until November. These leaders would favour going along with
Prime Minister Mitchell's suggestion for a special meeting of Heads
of Government.

The Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur, who has lead
responsibility for CSME arrangements, is said to be anxious that the
coming special summit in Port of Spain be focused primarily on
CSME-readiness and not have to revisit the issue of engagement with
the Haitian regime.

It is an anxiety shared by Trinidad and Tobago which is currently
making preparations also for the ceremonial inauguration of the
Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to coincide with the special summit
in November.

But Prime Minister Gonsalves, aware of at least three other Heads of
Government inclined to have the Haitian situation on the agenda at
the coming November summit, said yesterday that "no case has been
made out to justify an urgent meeting of Heads of Government on
Haiti".

"On the contrary," he said, "the passage of time may prove most
helpful with a better understanding of the problems on the ground in
Haiti and for clarity on what we should do.

"After all, the Heads of Government of Caricom, as the highest organ
of the Community, should not be viewed as any kind of sub-committee
to deal with neighbourhood problems as a matter of expediency...."

This position clearly rules out Gonsalves' participation in any
special Heads of Government meeting on Haiti before November. This is
also likely to be the position of Prime Minister Anthony-currently at
the Olympics in Athens-and Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of
Dominica.

Amid the current uncertainties about the conditionalities and timing
of Haiti's participation in the business of Caricom pending the
outcome of new parliamentary and presidential elections next year,
one factor stood out in ministerial and official conversations
yesterday.

That is, no official invitation is likely to be extended to interim
Prime Minister Latortue to attend the special Caricom summit
scheduled for November in Port of Spain-whether or not Haiti is on
the agenda.

Meanwhile, the deposed Aristide is being officially treated as
President of Haiti by the government of South Africa where he is
currently in exile with his family.

Answering a written question last week in the South African
parliament, Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said that his
government recognised Aristide as "the legitimate elected President
of the Republic of Haiti".

Subsequently, Aristide had an informal meeting with former president
Nelson Mandela at the Nelson Mandela Foundation to "thank him", said
the ousted Haitian president, "for all he did for Haiti and the
entire world".
.