From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: HAITI: OAS INVOKES UN HELP TO RETURN TO DEMOCRACY
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1992 01:42:33 GMT

/** reg.carib: 335.0 **/
** Topic: IPS:OAS requests UN help on Haiti **
** Written  6:29 am  Nov 19, 1992 by caribdesk in cdp:reg.carib **
From: Bob Thomson <caribdesk>
Subject: IPS:OAS requests UN help on Haiti

/* Written 12:15 am  Nov 14, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in igc:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "HAITI: OAS INVOKES UN HELP TO BRING" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: HAITI: OAS INVOKES UN HELP TO BRING ABOUT A RETURN TO DEMOCRACY

washington, nov 11 (ips/marco sibaja) -- the organization of
american states (oas) has called on the united nations to help it
bring about a return to democracy in haiti.

the oas permanent council approved a resolution to this effect
late tuesday night after almost six hours of discussions.

latin american diplomats told ips that a feeling of tiredness
with regard to the haitian issue can be perceived within the
hemispheric organization, following 13 months of fruitless
efforts to get the military regime which deposed elected
president jean-bertrand aristide to step down.

the poor yield of the oas efforts led aristide himself to ask
the organization to share responsibilities for the haitian issue
with the united nations.

the permanent council agreed to ask un members to back the
oas' attempts to strengthen representative democracy in haiti,
including an embargo on trade in military equipment and oil and
the freezing of the assets of the haitian state.

it also decided to urge the united nations to increase
humanitarian aid, participate in an oas civil mission now
monitoring human rights in the caribbean country and collaborate
in the distribution of aid there.

while mexico was among the delegations which approved the
resolution by consensus, its representative, carlos pujalte,
stressed that ''the collective actions against that country have
affected the well-being of the people more than those who have
assumed control'' of haiti.

however, haitian ambassador jean casimir explained that the
reinforcement of the embargo on weapons and oil could bring about
a change.

officials who attended the meeting said the resolution was a
disguised attempt by the oas to disassociate itself as much as
possible from the haitian case.

''the resolution was drawn up in this way to save the
organization's face,'' a representative who wished to remain
anonymous said.

he explained that it has already been demonstrated that the
oas can call for a return to democracy and ask everyone to adopt
measures, but lacks the instruments needed to enforce them.

another delegate said part of the problem stemmed from the
fact that the regional forum ''got married to a part of the
problem,'' and this limited its search for solutions. (more)
----


he was alluding to the commitment made by the oas to reinstate
aristide. oas members, he claimed, now recognize aristide as part
of the haitian problem and no longer as the solution to the
crisis.

in their first resolution after the military coup, oas foreign
ministers had called for aristide's immediate return. that was on
oct. 3, 1991, three days after the overthrow and five days before
the oas imposed its oct. 8 embargo on trade with the caribbean
country.

all resolutions passed since then have reiterated the call for
aristide's return.

in february 1992 the oas brokered an agreement between
aristide and haiti's parliamentary leaders on the establishment
of a transitional government which was to have paved the way for
the deposed president's return.

however, its implementation was blocked by the military, who
are dead set against the return of the deposed president, a
catholic priest who sympathizes with the liberation theology and
whom they see as a mobilizer of the masses against the wealthy
sectors of the country.

contrary to its stand on haiti, the oas refrained from calling
for a re-establishment of the peruvian parliament after president
alberto fujimori dissolved it on apr. 5.

the oas decided to accept fujimori's proposal to hold
elections to a constitutional assembly, even though political
parties urged the organization not to sanction the polls since
this would mean legitimizing an anti-democratic procedure.

the haitian crisis has put to the test the commitment which
the oas made at its 1991 general assembly in chile to defend and
strengthen latin american democracy.

at the chile meeting the organization created a high level
mechanism to impose sanctions against countries which violate the
democratic order.

however the haitian case has exposed the inability of the oas
to make its commitment to democracy
effective.(end/ips/trd/so/mas-cs/kb/92)
----


** End of text from cdp:reg.carib **

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