a1744: BBC: The deployment of the OAS technical mission might bedone with difficulty due to the threats by Lavalas People's Organization(fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

Haiti: Radio Metropole highlights 1145 gmt 19 Apr 02
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Apr 20, 2002


2. The deployment of the OAS technical mission might be done with difficulty
due to the threats by Lavalas People's Organization (OP) leaders Rene Civil
and Paul Raymond. The Lavalas government urges the population to remain calm
and cooperate with the mission. [poor recording] (2 min)
3. The ruling party is attempting to calm its supporters who oppose the
deployment of the OAS technical mission in Haiti. The new interim leader of
the Lavalas Family, Jonas Petit, describes the members of the mission as
friends of Haiti. He says that the Lavalas Family (FL) urges the population
to avoid provocation at all times, because only a peaceful environment can
help us get out of the crisis. [poor recording] (3 min)
4. France continues to maintain its conditions for the effective resumption
of its cooperation with Port-au-Prince. French Ambassador Yves Gaudeul
affirms that the crisis must be resolved. [poor recording] (2 min)
5. The Convergence's Micha Gaillard specifies that there is no political
quarrel in Haiti, but a fight for democracy against arbitrariness. Gaillard
said that he is concerned about the possibility that Haiti might be isolated
on the international scene if the crisis persists. (2 min)
6. The minister in charge of the negotiations speaks about the dysfunction
of certain state structures due to the post-election crisis. Marc L Bazin
also believes that the resumption of international aid is conditional on
finding a way out of the crisis. (2 min)
8. The Saint-Marc examining judge is expected to hear testimony from the
former president during the military government this morning. Henry Kesner
Noel intends to hear Prosper Avril within the framework of the investigation
of the Piatre massacre, which took place on 12 March 1990. The judge has
been in charge of the Piatre dossier for about a year. (3 min)
9. Prosper Avril's lawyers sent a note to the Saint-Marc examining judge to
ask that the case to be heard in Port-au-Prince for security purposes.
Moreover, Rigaud Duplan and Reynold Georges ask the judge to take into
account the declarations of the Piatre peasants, who said that Avril was not
involved in the massacre that took place on the same day that he was leaving
the country to go into exile. (1 min)
10. Attorney Reynold Georges announces that Prosper Avril will not go to
Saint-Marc today for security reasons. The case might be heard in
Port-au-Prince instead. (1 min)
11. The Avril family fears for the security of the general and asks for his
release. Madam Marie-Ange Avril said that people have opened fire on their
house several times in 1995 and in 2001, until her husband was arrested and
put in prison for 11 months as part of the La Toussaint prisoners. (1 min)
12. The Haitian National Police [PNH] are in the sights of Port-au-Prince
lawyers for having humiliated Rigaud Duplan and Reynold Georges in front of
the National Penitentiary while they were accompanying their client, Prosper
Avril. According to a note made public yesterday, the lawyers consider that
practice unacceptable and an attack on human rights. The security of the
lawyers was not guaranteed. The lawyers urge the members of the bar to be
prudent while doing their job. They denounce the intervention of the
policemen in the latest arrest of General Avril. The dangerous and
scandalous scenario that was staged that day was quite useless, because all
of the prisoners in whose favour a decision of the justice has been issued
can be retained for any other reason, said the members of the council of
Port-au-Prince lawyers. (1 min)
13. The Civil Society Initiative Group [GISC] asks for the liberation of all
the people in whose favour a court order has been issued. In a communique
made public yesterday, the GISC said that it is concerned about the practice
of ignoring court decisions on releases. The GISC asks the current
authorities to respect the law. (2 min)
14. The French ambassador defended the diplomatic corps, which is accused by
the supporters of the Lavalas regime of undertaking destabilizing attempts.
Yves Gaudeul underscores that the position of the group of the countries
called Friends of Haiti has always been clear and unambiguous on the dossier
of the crisis. The international community supports the reinforcement of
democracy in Haiti. (2 min)
15. The Lavalas government wants to regulate the working of the press, whose
limits are already determined by law. Communication Minister Mario Dupuy
insisted on the issue during a meeting held yesterday with journalists at
the Haitian Press Centre. The press corps is not pleased with that
initiative. Haitian journalists still remember the attempts by other Haitian
regimes to control the press in the past. They argue that the press should
be free to do its work. But Dupuy argues that a state of law cannot be built
without laws. One cannot be for the rule of law and be hostile to the
establishment of laws at the same time. The press corps declares that Dupuy
should start creating order at the level of the state media first. By doing
so, they can then prove that they can do better in other sectors. (4 min)
19. Special Guest of the Day: Rosny Desroches of the GISC on the injustice
done to Prosper Avril and the need for the justice department to release all
the prisoners who have a liberation order issued in their favour. The
independence of the judiciary is not visible in Haiti. It is under the
control of the executive, he said. Whatever people may have against General
Avril, he said, he is part of the nation's history. He was a president of
the country and should be treated with respect. With regard to the threats
made by the Lavalas OP leaders, he said that the Lavalas power should
establish order within itself, because it is not to the party's advantage to
use double talk. It cannot say, on one hand, that it is ready to cooperate
with the mission, while letting the OP members contradict what the Lavalas
leaders say. (17 min)
Source: Radio Metropole, Port-au-Prince, in French 1145 gmt 19 Apr 02
/¸ BBC Monitoring
/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.