27540: (news) Chamberlain: U.S. diplomat calls Haiti vote "successful" (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Tom Brown

     MIAMI, Feb 7 (Reuters) - The top U.S. official for Latin America
called Haiti's chaotic presidential election "pretty successful" on Tuesday
and said Washington was prepared to work with whomever emerges as the
impoverished country's new leader.
     U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Tom
Shannon spoke in a telephone interview from Washington as voting, which
began late and was glacially slow, was still under way.
     Patrick Fequiere, a member of Haiti's electoral council, called the
election "a mess" and Johan Van Hecke, head of a European Union observer
mission, said there were serious problems involving voter lists full of
mistakes.
     But Shannon said early reports from the U.S. Embassy in the capital
Port-au-Prince and U.S. election observers suggested things were going
reasonably well.
     "What we've seen so far seems to indicate that the vote has been
pretty successful," Shannon told Reuters.
     He stressed there was nothing "normal" about a country torn by chaos
and gang violence that was holding its first election since democratically
elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was toppled two years ago --
suggesting any criticism should take that into account.
     Washington is seen as both a key ally and a major potential adversary
by Haitians. U.S. troops have been sent in three times -- first between
1915 and 1934, then in 1994 to restore Aristide to power after he was
ousted in a military coup, and lastly in 2004 when Aristide was again
deposed by an armed revolt.
     U.S. officials accused Aristide -- a champion of Haiti's overwhelming
majority of poor -- of despotism and corruption, and urged him to leave
during the rebellion two years ago.
     Ex-president Rene Preval, a one-time Aristide protege, was favored to
win Tuesday's election and he may open the door to the firebrand priest's
return from exile in South Africa.
     "We will work with (whomever) the Haitian people chose as their
president," said Shannon, when asked about possible U.S. unease about the
outcome of the Haitian poll.
     "Far from looking backward, we're going to be looking forward," he
added.
     The U.S. commitment, along with that of much of the international
community, will be to work with the new government "to address the kind of
long-standing development and security issues that have plagued Haiti for
many, many years," Shannon said.
     "This is a vital and necessary step," he said.