PRESS CONFERENCE ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN HAITI

Press Briefing

PRESS CONFERENCE ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN HAITI

The current crisis in Haiti was a direct result of the disputed elections of April 1997, Chetan Kumar, Senior Associate of the International Peace Academy (IPA) told correspondents at a Headquarters' press conference this morning on recent developments in Haiti. He was joined by the new President of the Academy, David Malone, who succeeded Olara Otunnu in November 1998.

Mr. Kumar said that after those disputed elections, most political parties in Haiti, claiming that the provisional electoral council at that time was unfair and incapable of carrying out free and fair elections, had left the electoral process.

Recapitulating some of the country's history, to explain how Haiti had once again arrived at a crisis in democracy, Mr. Malone said the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) had first become actively involved in the Haitian democratic struggle in 1990. That had been primarily a result of pressure from then-President of Venezuela Carlos Andres Perez and then-President Francois Mitterand of France, to get the international community involved in organizing the types of elections that would allow truly democratic processes in Haiti to take root.

As a result, he continued, the OAS and the United Nations had been involved in organizing and monitoring the elections in December 1990, which had brought President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power. President Aristide had been was overthrown in a military coup in September 1991, precipitating the OAS and the United Nations to search for means to restore him to power. That had involved voluntary sanctions being imposed on Haiti by the OAS, and, when those had proved ineffective, the United Nations Security Council, in June 1993, had imposed mandatory sanctions. In the meantime, the OAS and the United Nations had looked for broader means of influencing the situation in Haiti. They had then launched the International Civilian Mission to Haiti (MICIVIH) to monitor human rights while the de facto military regime was in power. After President Aristide's return in 1994, the MICIVIH had been involved not only in human rights monitoring, but also and more importantly, in capacity-building in the police sector, the prison system and the judiciary.

During that period, the international community had ultimately been obliged to resort to the threat of force to get rid of the de facto regime and restore President Aristide, he said. A multinational force established in September 1994 had been replaced by a United Nations peacekeeping operation -- the United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) in early 1995. That Mission had been continually downsized over time with evolving mandates as the situation had continued to improve. Today, the Organization also had the United Nations Civilian Police Mission in Haiti (MIPONUH), involving about 140 police

trainers and monitors, and about 140 Argentinian armed personnel, who in a crisis could provide security for the trainers and monitors.

Returning to the elections of April 1997, considered by most independent observers as flawed, Mr. Kumar said that divisions had arisen and Prime Minister Rony Smarth had resigned. As the Lavalas coalition, headed by President Aristide had split, it made it difficult to resolve the issue of the Prime Minister. The President had sent four nominations to the Parliament and none of them had been approved. The President had stated that because the term of Parliament had expired, it had no longer been possible for him to continue discussion with them on the issue of the Prime Minister. He had preferred, since he did not have the authority to extend the Parliament's term, to go ahead and appoint the Prime Minister himself. That had led to a greater polarization within the country with the majority party in the Parliament, the OPL (Organisation du Peuple en Lutte) claiming a vast conspiracy to undermine the country's democratic institutions. The Presidency, on the other hand, had claimed that the Parliament's squabbling had left the country bankrupt. Haiti was now faced with a situation where the polarization could further prevent a resolution of the crisis.

On the positive side, he added, the Haitian National Police, which had been the focus of many international efforts in the past few years, had managed to remain neutral in the dispute. It was significant and relatively new in Haiti that an armed force had remained neutral in a political dispute of such magnitude. Also, both the left and the right that had called for calm and increased dialogue between all sectors to move ahead on the two key issues facing the country -- to constitute an electoral council capable of holding free and fair elections for the next legislature and presidency; and to continue implementing the programme of economic reform that the current Government had agreed to with international financial institutions.

Mr. Malone said that what was disturbing was that the Haitian population was becoming disenchanted with all the political classes. They believed the Government did little to address the needs of the country. The standoff between the Presidency and the Parliament, which prevented the ratification of a Prime Minister, had held up a great deal of international assistance. The people felt that the political classes in Port-au-Prince were doing very little to address the day to day economic concerns of the people. Haiti was by far the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. Following President Aristide's return and the end of economic sanctions, economic growth in Haiti had slowed tremendously. Hence, the population had every reason to be disconcerted and depressed over the current political stalemate.

He pointed out that the current crisis was not the first one democracy in Haiti had faced. In many ways, the situation in the 1990s, with the election of President Aristide and since his return in 1994, had been a vast improvement over what Haiti had known in previous decades. Political intimidation, murder and imprisonment were the exception rather than the norm

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today. In general, Haiti had its first opportunity to construct a working democracy, and it was a process well worth supporting in the view of the International Peace Academy.

A correspondent asked whether Mr. Aristide was the main culprit of the standoff in Parliament, blocking economic reforms and undermining Rene Preval, because he wanted to be President again. Mr. Malone said that it was not that simple and what had happened within Mr. Aristide's political movement was a very bitter split. The parties did not trust each other, and it was that trust and a disposition to compromise that the international community needed to foster.

One of the key problems that experts had identified in Haiti, Mr. Kumar added, was a tendency on the part of some actors to colour their bitterness towards each other with fears. There were neither angels nor devils in the current situation, in that there were only devils and nothing else. He believed, however, that there were good people on both sides who genuinely believed that their actions were contributing towards democracy.

Referring to the fact that the Security Council had recently taken up Haiti and had hoped for agreement on the electoral council, a correspondent asked whether, based on the International Peace Academy's study, there were any recommendations or concrete ways to bring that about. First of all, Mr. Malone said, it was not surprising that the Security Council had taken up the issue of Haiti, because the investment of the United Nations, and to some degree of the OAS, had been enormous over the years. So the health of democracy in Haiti was of real concern in both the Organization and the OAS, in many foreign capitals and the Western Hemisphere in general.

It seemed that the problem with the composition of a new electoral council was that it had to be perceived across the political spectrum to be a neutral and respected group of people, he continued. Although President Preval would play an important role in the selection process, consultations with other active political players was necessary. The composition of the council was outlined in Haiti's 1987 Constitution, which was a complex document. The principle attribute of a new council would be its ability to command broad support in the political spectrum.

Mr. Kumar added that outside the council, the broader electoral challenge Haiti faced was reinvigorating the population to take an interest in the electoral process. In the past election (April 1997), only an estimated five per cent of the population had participated, and it would be even less if elections were held today. Having a credible electoral council would help in bringing more people out to the elections.

Responding to a question on why Haitians were not speaking for themselves and whether the Peace Academy was their agent, Mr. Malone said that the Academy was not an agent for anyone. Rather, it was a well respected

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research and professional institution, which had many different people, including a Haitian colleague, working for it. He hoped the briefing room could provide a forum for all sorts of Haitians to express their views to United Nations correspondents. The purpose of today's briefing was to provide background based on the Academy's own research on Haiti.

Before concluding, Mr. Kumar described a project that he and the Academy had been involved in to promote dialogue at the political level in Haiti. As mentioned earlier, the critical component in the current situation was the emergence of sane voices, which advocated dialogue and represented all sectors and political tendencies in the country. To address that issue, the Academy had begun convening, since January, a series of meetings between a group of political and civic leaders, which included not only political parties from the left and right, but also leaders from sectors such as business, labour and media. Discussions had focused primarily on dialogue and engagement, and on taking that dialogue to others. The partial success of the initiative was attested to by the fact that as the crisis had unfolded, several individuals in the group had called for people to be calm and explore means of dialogue. Although the project would conclude later in the year, he hoped the process would continue with greater international support.

Mr. Malone added that the project was being carried out in close partnership with the FAFO Research Institution in Norway and CECI, a research and development institution in Canada.

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