a795: BBC: Haiti: FL spokesman says arrests of alleged kidnappersshould not affect talks (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

Haiti: FL spokesman says arrests of alleged kidnappers should not affect
talks
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 15, 2002


The political news is still dominated by the arrest of opposition supporters
during Carnival on charges of alleged involvement in kidnapping cases. The
Lavalas Family [FL] is pleased with the attitude of the police in the fight
against crime, especially kidnapping. The ruling party has asked the
opposition not to confuse the arrest of those people with the resumption of
the discussions. [FL spokesman] Jonas Petit speaks as follows:
[Petit recording - in Creole] Well, I do not think that that would hinder
the negotiations somehow, because I believe that everybody in the country
was suffering from a series of wicked acts that were taking place, such as
the kidnapping issue. On the contrary, I believe that we should encourage
the police to continue to do their work by dismantling networks of bandits
that may endanger the lives of the people in Haiti.
I believe that people should not think that the political pretext would be
enough to let people disturb the peaceful atmosphere in the country. If the
police manage to arrest those people, whatever their political affiliation,
I believe that the police should continue to do their work. So, we think
that the Convergence people will not consider what the police are doing as a
hindrance to the continuation of the negotiating process in Haiti.
Source: Radio Metropole, Port-au-Prince, in French 1145 gmt 15 Feb 02
/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.