24642: Esser (analysis): Sharing Haiti's 'democracy' agony

[sak-pase@bimini.ws]

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


The Jamaica Observer
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/
April 3, 2005

Analysis
Sharing Haiti's 'democracy' agony
by Rickey Singh


IF 'democracy' in Haiti must rest on another five minutes in a
polling booth by voters at coming new elections, then those familiar
with the political culture of that poverty-stricken Caribbean state
could well appreciate why there seems to be no excitement, no
expressed enthusiasm by the mass of Haitians for what is being
officially promoted in Washington and Port-au-Prince as the
"restoration of democratic governance".

A culture of revenge and confrontation politics in that poorest of
nations in the Western Hemisphere continues to make a mockery of
promised democratic governance - even if we restrict examination from
the 'Duvalierist' dynasty to that of the Roman Catholic priest turned
politician, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

The 'democratic' deficit that existed under Aristide's second term
has clearly widened, in a shorter period, and in spite of a heavy
foreign military presence, under the interim regime of Prime Minister
Gerard Latortue, created and sustained primarily via the influence of
the George W Bush Administration.

Never favoured by the Bush Administration, the Aristide Government
had failed to deliver on some core pledges to the Haitian people. But
it was not the ogre the hawks of the Bush Administration had deemed
it to be to justify Washington's lead role for "regime change" in
Port-au-Prince on February 29, 2004.

Last week, as Jamaicans and their Government agonised over the future
of some 288 Haitians who fled to this country following the
orchestrated coup against the Aristide Government, supporters of the
ousted president were showing that he continues to enjoy national
popularity, even as he remains in exile in South Africa.

ARISTIDE: continues to enjoy national popularity in Haiti

However desirable is Aristide's return from exile, the harsh reality
suggests, according to credible reports out of Haiti, that this
development by itself offers no serious solution to the fundamental
political and economic problems facing Haiti, where democratic
governance remains elusive.

Right now, Aristide's Lavalas party is not an active participant in
the process for new local government, parliamentary and presidential
elections. Further, leading colleagues of his deposed administration
are political prisoners without charges - among them a prime minister
and a minister of justice.

Consequently, official pronouncements such as "the Organisation of
American States and the United Nations are co-operating closely to
ensure that Haiti can hold free and fair elections in 2005..."
continue to evoke cynicism and disenchantment.

It is quite discouraging to follow official rhetoric about "free and
fair" elections under present conditions of ongoing political
violence, lawlessness and fear, and an interim regime that seems not
to understand its responsibilities to ensure a climate of stability
and uphold the rule of law.

LATORTUE: his government created and sustained by America's influence

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was himself lamenting last month the
"precarious" internal security problem in Haiti when he observed that:

"Although the general security environment across Haiti has improved,
MINUSTAH (UN Stabilisation Mission in Haiti) (faces) the risk of
retaliation in determining to take action against gang members and
former soldiers" of the disbanded Haitian army.

While the impasse lingers over collective engagement by the Caribbean
Community with the interim regime in Port-au-Prince, we should not
expect any new initiative of significance from Caricom that could
possibly make a positive impact on even a single distressed town or
village in Haiti.

But what of the Bush Administration that had moved with such alacrity
13 months ago for a military intervention under UN auspices?
It was an intervention of American, French and Canadian forces that
coincided with the downfall of the Aristide Administration in the
face of an orchestrated campaign of violence that involved a mix of
traditional domestic political opponents, rebel military personnel
and criminal elements.

For that matter, what is the UN Security Council itself doing to
arrest the nightmare of cyclical political violence, spreading fear
and deepening poverty, even as UN peace-keepers themselves are now
being killed by well-armed rebel soldiers?

If the rebel thugs of a disbanded army and criminals have a common
cause in spreading the climate of violence and fear in which the
country is gripped, while leading members of Aristide's Lavalas party
remain prisoners, what will happen as Haiti moves closer to October 9
when the first round of local government elections is scheduled to be
held?

Between October 9 and December 18, when the presidential poll takes
place, following that of parliamentary elections on November 13, the
ill-trained and severely limited Haitian police force of some 3,000
in a country of an estimated eight million people will be under even
greater stress to be of support to the UN peace-keepers.

France, with its sordid history as ex-coloniser, and which was a
convenient partner in the military intervention of February 29 last
year that converged with the anti-Aristide coup, hosted earlier this
month in Cayenne an aid donors conference on Haiti as a follow-up to
that held in the USA in July.

Participating donor nations and groups reaffirmed commitment to
provide some US$1 billion for development projects in Haiti, which
remains the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, having been the
oldest independent state for two centuries.

But since the 2004 aid donors conference that followed the grim
economic devastation and hundreds of lives lost from floods and
mudslides, only less than 10 per cent of the pledged US$1 billion has
been received by Haiti.

It is as if the donor community is mocking the suffering of the
Haitian masses for being stuck with an interim regime fumbling its
way through the crisis scenarios while its sponsors grope for
solutions.

Therefore, I return to an earlier question: What are the Bush
Administration, the OAS and the UN Security Council really doing
about the Haitian crisis of political instability, violence, gross
human rights violations and the hunger and suffering of millions?

If the short answer is "preparing for free and fair elections", they
need to generate confidence - by actions, not words - in a
rule-of-law climate and show to what extent the quality of life of
the Haitian masses has improved following Washington's "regime
change" in Port-au-Prince, in preference for its arbitrary rejection
of a Caricom "peace" plan that it had previously accepted.


Copyright © 2005 Jamaica Observer