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Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning speaks with reporters during the 15th Inter-sessional Meeting of the Heads of Government of the CARICOM in Basseterre, St. Kitts, Friday, March 26, 2004. T (AP Photo/Andres Leighton) |
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Saturday, March 27, 2004 · Last updated 8:48 a.m. PT
Caribbean leaders don't accept Haiti Gov't
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts -- The 15-nation Caribbean Community withheld recognition from Haiti's U.S.-backed interim government Saturday as leaders closed a summit renewing calls for a U.N. investigation into the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Leaders said they would take up the issue of whether to recognize the government again at a summit in July in Grenada.
"We can't determine this issue at this meeting," Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning said. He added that discussions were "quite tense."
Several officials said the regional bloc was under enormous U.S. pressure to recognize the new government, which was appointed after Aristide fled on Feb. 29 amid a popular uprising.
"Right now we are not satisfied," St. Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said at the close of the two-day summit. "We are going to watch and see a number of things as they evolve."
The leaders also lamented recent statements by Haiti's Prime Minister Gerard Latortue hailing rebels as "freedom fighters" and saying he was freezing participation in the regional bloc for its stance in bringing Aristide to Jamaica for temporary exile.
The participating Caribbean leaders issued a statement early Saturday saying "no action should be taken to legitimize the rebel forces."
They said while Haiti remains a "welcome partner" in the Caribbean Community, "there has been an interruption of the democratic process."
The leaders said they would ask the U.N. General Assembly or Secretary-General Kofi Annan to oversee an investigation into Aristide's claims he was abducted at gunpoint by U.S. agents when he left Feb. 29 as rebels threatened to attack Haiti's capital.
The 11 heads of government attending said it is in the international community's "compelling interest" to fully investigate the circumstances of Aristide's departure.
Delegates said the bloc wants the General Assembly to investigate Aristide's departure rather than the Security Council, where the United States or France could veto the proposal.
U.S. officials say they organized his departure on a charter to Central African Republic at his own request and probably saved his life.
The Caribbean Community stressed "the importance of holding free and fair elections to ensure a return to constitutional democracy in an acceptable time frame" in Haiti.
Latortue has said he hopes to organize legislative elections in six to eight months; it was unclear whether that would be acceptable.
St. Kitts Prime Minister Denzil Douglas said the community plans to deal directly with "the Haitian people" through the United Nations and other agencies.
Caribbean leaders declined to participate in the current U.S.-led international force, angry that the Security Council refused their urgent plea to send troops in time to save Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected leader.
Nevertheless, Manning said Trinidad will send 121 soldiers to join a separate U.N. humanitarian force in about two months. Other Caribbean countries are expected to follow.
In Haiti, meanwhile, the interim government announced it will block dozens of ex-members of Aristide's government from leaving the country, including former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune.
New Justice Minister Bernard Gousse told The Associated Press the move was an "insurance policy" that will make sure the officials are available for investigations into embezzlement and other alleged crimes.
"This does not mean that they are guilty. It will be for the justice system to decide," Gousse said.
Neptune has said he intends to remain and is in hiding due to threats against his life.
Some Caribbean leaders said they were angry with Latortue, who was not invited to the summit, because he was allowing rebels who include convicted assassins to walk free.
"We do not give comfort to thugs and rebels," Gonsalves said. "What we have done is to recognize a state, but we do not recognize governments and interim administrations."
On Friday morning Latortue faxed a conciliatory letter to Caribbean leaders, officials said. The letter was not made public, but officials said in it Latortue said his previous statements about the community and the rebels were misconstrued.
"Maybe if we had that letter from Mr. Latortue before he might have been here at this meeting," Douglas said. "The letter certainly changed the tone of our discussions, but the letter could have come before."
In Haiti, Latortue declined comment.
The leaders also decided that Antigua's newly elected leader, Baldwin Spencer, would head a team of leaders to consider Haiti's crisis and agreed to set up a task force to coordinate Caribbean assistance.
Note: this story is archived here because it will be removed from Seattle PI site by 4/10/2004