24048: Hermantin(Pub)Destiny in the hands of Haitian people (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Sun-Sentinel

Destiny in the hands of Haitian people



By Roger Noriega

January 6, 2005

In the 200-plus years of its existence as an independent country, Haiti has
been blessed with a wealth of talented and industrious people. The author of
The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas, was the son of a Haitian general, and
the island nation's famed writers include the noted poet Oswald Durand.
Haitian painters and sculptors are considered to be among the best in the
region. Haiti's professionals have made important contributions wherever
they travel, whether to Africa where they have deepened that continent's
talent pool, or the cities of North America, where they work as doctors and
nurses in our health-care facilities.

Unfortunately, Haitians also have been cursed by a series of corrupt and
autocratic rulers who have provided little opportunity for the best and
brightest among them to realize their full potential within Haiti. Under the
latest, and hopefully last, of Haiti's strongmen, Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
Haitians suffered under the thugs and gangsters who dominated political
life. Countless professionals, among them journalists, academicians, lawyers
and businessmen were threatened, maimed or killed. Their crime? To seek the
basic security as well as the rights and liberties taken for granted in the
Western Hemisphere's 33 democracies.

A year ago, I met with Dr. Pierre-Marie Paquoit, whose plight was typical of
many among Haiti's professional class. Rector of the State University of
Haiti, this erudite physicist and defender of democracy had his kneecaps
broken while attempting to protect his students from gangs acting on
Aristide's behalf. Until the international community stepped in early last
year to end the spiral of violence and prevent a bloodbath, countless
professionals like Paquoit risked injury or death by simply speaking out.

Today, Haitian patriots like Paquoit offer hope that the Caribbean nation
will finally break free from the cycle of authoritarian rule.

To do this, they need the help of the United States and its international
partners -- and they are getting it. We must first provide them with the
security and stability they need to construct a functioning polity and
economy. The current U.N. peacekeeping mission has about 6,300 troops and
1,300 civilian police on the ground and is gradually making progress. As
Secretary of State Colin Powell said during his Dec. 1 visit to Haiti,
security, economic development, and political reconciliation "go hand in
hand."

Equally important, Haiti needs our help to start up a functioning economy.
The United States has given Haiti about $230 million in the past year for
basic services, health-care improvements, to jump-start private enterprise
and to help the Haitian people recover from the damage caused by hurricanes
and storms in May and September. Despite this devastation, Haiti, including
its talented professionals, are making slow but steady headway in
normalizing business activity.

We are also working with the Haitian interim government on novel ways to
promote better governance and to provide a better, more enabling environment
for sustained development.



Finally, Haitians need our support as they undertake elections later this
year to institutionalize a democratic government. Haiti's interim government
has established a workable timetable for presidential, congressional and
local elections for this fall. The international community is working out a
support strategy to make sure those elections are successful. The United
States has provided substantial elections assistance to the OAS and United
Nations mission in Haiti, and will continue to work with our partners to
ensure that Haiti receives the support it needs to hold credible elections
this year.

Yes, more needs to be done; but we are on the right path to assisting
Haitians to create the conditions that will allow them to become a more
prosperous and truly democratic society.

Roger Noriega is assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Western
Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. State Department.


Copyright © 2005, South Florida Sun-Sentinel