Caricom may not recognise new Haiti Government
Stabroek News
March 27, 2004
(Trinidad Guardian) Caricom Heads were leaning towards not recognising the interim Government in Haiti last night, as they concluded the two-day 15th Inter-Sessional Meeting here.
The crisis in Haiti dominated the caucuses of the regional heads, who deliberated on the issue all day Thursday and from early yesterday morning till well past 6 pm.
Although, Caricom issued no official word on its decision by late yesterday, one source said it would not stand idly by while events continue to unfold in Haiti, which is now being governed by President Alexandre Boniface and Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, who are both backed by the US.
Bahamas Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell denied a story posted on the Miami Herald website yesterday, which said his country's had proposed Caricom "recognise or reject the government that replaced its democratically-elected president."
Interviewed last evening, Mitchell said the Bahamas delegation simply said that country would have to engage with the Government of Haiti on whether it was democratically elected or not.
"I think the position of everybody is that you have to engage, but the question of recognition is a different issue," he said.
"We have had diplomats in Haiti for over a decade living through coups, and changes by the ballot box. We have never made a declaration on recognition in any of those cases, whoever is in de facto control of the country."
Mitchell said any consensus statement which comes out of the last two days would "reflect the views of the Bahamas."
Last month, Haiti's democratically-elected president, Jean Bertrand-Aristide, left the country after the US said he posed the biggest obstacle to democracy in his troubled country.
Under a United Nations Security Council resolution, the US deployed troops to Haiti after it supported a plan proposed by Caricom to have the opposition share government with Aristide's party.
Caricom has asked the UN to lead an independent investigation into Aristide's departure, saying the circumstances surrounding it were not clear.
Haiti's relations with Caricom have become strained since Latortue said he would suspend his country's ties to Jamaica and possibly Caricom.
Jamaica, with Caricom support, is now hosting Aristide and his family.
On Thursday night, after the Caricom Heads ended their first day of talks on Haiti at around 8 pm, T&T Prime Minister Patrick Manning said he was confident there would be a regional consensus on the issue.
"There will be a consensus. I am pretty certain of it," Manning said.
However, he indicated that consensus was no easy decision.
"There are divergent views," Manning said.
"You see as the discussions progressed, we began to see the possibility of common ground."
St Lucia Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony also felt the Caricom leaders would arrive at a consensus.
The Caricom leaders received a report on Haiti on Wednesday from T&T-born UN special envoy Reginald Dumas and Manning said this led to some very significant deliberations by the Caricom heads.
Manning described Wednesday's meeting as the most significant in all of his years associated with Caricom.
"It is a complex and difficult issue and I have seen Caribbean Prime Ministers at their best today in the discussions that have taken place," he said.
In addition to his contribution to the deliberations on Haiti, Manning also made a presentation on crime and security to the regional heads, who were in closed-door sessions last night.
Manning left St Kitts last night.