23643: (pub) Chamberlain: Brazil seeks political solution in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Andrew Hay

     BRASILIA, Brazil, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Brazil is pushing Haiti's
government to reach a political truce and stem violence that threatens a
U.N. peacekeeping mission, the top foreign policy adviser to Brazil's
president said on Wednesday.
     Brazil is sending envoys to the Caribbean nation to help broker an
accord as an over-stretched, 3,000-strong U.N. force under its command
struggles to stop killings and civil unrest.
     "We need a political reconstruction of the country because if some
group thinks they can resolve matters with guns it's going to get
complicated," said Marco Aurelio Garcia, who will travel to Haiti next week
as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's top political
negotiator.
     Brazil offered to lead the U.N. force on condition it got support to
reconstruct Haiti after a February revolt killed over 200 people and forced
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile following U.S. and French
pressure.
     Brazil has called for more troops and humanitarian support to help the
mission after a wave of violence killed at least 50 people since late
September and flooding killed over 3,000.
     Garcia said U.N. donor nations had promised $1.2 billion to rebuild
Haiti but were slow in delivering funds due to concerns its institutions
were not yet strong enough to receive aid.
     With Brazil's 1,200 peacekeepers exposed to growing risk of ambush and
attack, the center-left government is keen to avoid casualties in a mission
that has faced opposition at home.
     Some Brazilian politicians and media pundits say the United States
should take responsibility for Haiti's political problems, not Brazil. A
failed mission would be an embarrassment for Lula, who sees the deployment
as evidence of Brazil's role as a regional power and its right to a
permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
     "I think it's going to be incredibly difficult to bridge divisions
that have gone on for years," said Virginia Segal of human rights group
Amnesty International.
     Aristide supporters blame the interim government for recent violence.
The government blames Aristide for inciting demonstrations from South
Africa, where he is in exile.
     The size of the U.N. force -- composed of troops from countries such
as Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Nepal and Sri Lanka -- should
increase to up to 5,700 soldiers within weeks, Garcia said.
     The extra troops will allow the force to speed up disarmament
necessary to reach a "minimum understanding" between political groups, he
said.
     Brazil has backing from Chile, South Africa and Canada for its efforts
to seek a political accord.
     U.N. special envoy to Haiti Juan Gabriel Valdes, a Chilean diplomat,
is urging the Haitian government to bring sparring political groups to the
negotiating table.
     "Without an internal political accord it's going to be impossible to
have a solution," Chilean Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker said after talks
with Lula on Wednesday.