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24778: Hermantin (News) Aristide supporters ask U.N. for help



leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Fri, Apr. 15, 2005
LITTLE HAITI
Aristide supporters ask U.N. for help

The political party of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide protested human rights concerns in a letter sent to the U.N. Security Council.

BY TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@herald.com


Backers of ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's political party, who have been living in Miami in self-imposed exile, announced Thursday they have sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council detailing their concerns with what is taking place in their homeland.

''What exists in Haiti today is that the Constitution is being violated,'' Angelot Bell, a Lavalas leader, said at a news conference in Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood. ``We have underlined what the Haitian people are asking for.''

The letter, dated April 8 and signed by four leaders of the Lavalas party, says the U.N. Security Council is not doing enough to protect Haitian citizens. Since the Feb. 29, 2004 ouster of Aristide, the Haitian economy has deteriorated and the government of Gerard Latortue is doing too little to reverse the decline, they wrote.

The Lavalas party demands the release of political prisoners, the end of what it calls illegal arrests and summary executions and asks for U.N. officials to meet with Lavalas leaders.

The U.N. Security Council delegation is currently in Haiti on a four-day mission to see firsthand the situation there and investigate claims of human rights abuses. More than 400 people have been killed since September in clashes between gangs, ex-soldiers, police and U.N. peacekeepers, according to advocacy groups.

The delegation is also checking on preparations for the upcoming Haitian elections and efforts to disarm militant groups and is assessing conditions on extending the mandate for the United Nations' year-old peacekeeping mission, which is due to expire next month.

Also Thursday, the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch criticized the Latortue administration's inability to halt widespread violence in the capital of Port-au-Prince, and advised the Security Council to step up pressure.

During recent protests in Miami, Aristide supporters have carried life-size photos of Haitians who have been maimed or killed during violent outbreaks. While waving the photos, they have called Latortue an assassin and demanded that he step down.

In Miami earlier this week, Latortue dismissed the calls for his resignation, adding that his administration is working to curb human rights abuses.