12053: BBC: Haiti: OAS official says "time for inaction has ended"(fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

Haiti: OAS official says "time for inaction has ended"
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; May 16, 2002


The joint OAS [Organization of American States]/Caricom [Caribbean
Community] mission completed its three-day visit to the country yesterday
[15 May]. The visit was characterized mainly by the setting up of the
advisory board on the reparations to be made for the 17 December violence.
Before leaving the country, OAS Assistant Secretary-General Luigi Einaudi
offered a mea culpa for the absence of measures which should have been taken
by the various parties in order to resolve the political crisis. Einaudi
even thought that the time has come for action in order to get the country
out of the impasse. Jean Numa Goudou reports as follows:
[Goudou - recording] [Words indistinct] - the ineffectiveness of the OAS. In
other words, Einaudi noted those two points regarding the persistence of the
crisis in Haiti. It should be pointed out that Einaudi acknowledges the fact
that the 17 December violence had cast the negotiations into the abyss. The
time has come for an agreement to be reached, he said before leaving the
country.
[Einaudi] I believe that the time for inaction has ended, whether at the
level of the negotiations or regarding the need to resolve the political,
administrative and political problems.
[Goudou] Einaudi was serious about what he said and he addressed everybody.
He did not even spare the OAS in his remarks. He says that everybody was
shirking their responsibilities.
[Einaudi] It is somehow a common habit. We could even say that the OAS was
being inactive too. There is a relevant factor which I would like to stress
and everybody is aware of it. It is the fact that, whether at the level of
the OAS, the government or at the level of the different sectors of civil
society and the opposition, that it is time for action and progress.
[Goudou] The diplomat deplores the fact that very little progress has been
made in the past two years. We have a flexible organization but we have been
very active in Haiti despite all that. He mentioned the investigating
committee, the compensation committee, the technical mission and the
Inter-American Human Rights Commission which should arrive soon. Before
leaving the country, Einaudi drew the attention of the Haitian political
players to three different dates. On 22 May, OAS Secretary-General Cesar
Gaviria will present his report on Haiti. On 4 June, the general assembly
will be held on 4 June in Barbados, during which Haiti will be at the centre
of debate. He says that he will return to Haiti on 10 June.
[Einaudi] 10 June is the date when the minister [Julian Hunte] and I shall
come back to Haiti in order to relaunch the negotiating process.
[Goudou] He has announced the resumption of the negotiations on 10 June,
because he said that he is not aware of the 18 May deadline given by
President Aristide in order to find a solution to the crisis. But the
resumption of the talks was dependent on the end of the investigation into
the 17 December events, according to OAS Resolution 806.
Meanwhile, the investigating committee said that its work will be completed
by mid-June. Meanwhile, the OAS is planning to relaunch the negotiating
process on 10 June. Is it just a mistake or could it be said that the OAS is
trying to put the cart before the horse?
Source: Radio Metropole, Port-au-Prince, in French 1145 gmt 16 May 02
/¸ BBC Monitoring