Caricom draws South Africa into the loop over Haiti
Likely to coordinate response with Mbeki |
Observer Reporter
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
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| Caricom chairman, prime minister P J Patterson, walks ahead of Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur, St Lucia's Kenny Anthony and Guyana's Bharrat Jagdeo, ahead of yesterday's special Caricom meeting at Jamaica House to discuss the developments in Haiti. (Photo: Joseph Wellington) |
Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders will resume their talks on the Haiti situation today, but it appeared last night that they were attempting to fashion a response to the overthrow of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in concert with South Africa, the world's most powerful black nation.
When the heads of government and other regional ministers who were present recessed last night, after more than five hours of talks, they were largely tight-lipped about the discussion. But the Community's chairman, Prime Minister P J Patterson, revealed that Caribbean leaders had been in telephone contact with South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki.
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| Edwin Carington |
Patterson apart, the other leaders at the summit are: Owen Arthur, prime minister of Barbados; President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana; Prime Minister Perry Christie of The Bahamas; Dr Kenny Anthony, prime minister of St Lucia; and Patrick Manning, prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
There would be further talks with Mbeki after the Caricom leaders conclude their summit, Patterson said, although he did not say precisely when or what form the follow-up discussions would take.
Although Patterson offered no details of the nature of the discussion with Mbeki, it was being surmised last night that the South Africans were being asked not only to provide an exile home for Aristide, but to make common cause with Caricom in responding to what regional leaders stopped just short of branding as a coup d'etat against Haiti's elected leader.
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| Perry Christie |
"The Caricom countries are all very small, relatively weak countries although they have numbers and substantial voice," explained one analyst last night. "South Africa, on the other hand, is Africa's leader, a relatively significant power and one which, with Caricom, can help to make effective representations about the developments in Haiti. Indeed, if Mbeki is on board in a joint response with Caricom, it would not be surprising if Nigeria's Olusegun Obasanjo is also brought into the mix."
Patterson summoned yesterday's special summit of the 15-member Caricom on Sunday after the announcement that Aristide had left Haiti, having ostensibly resigned in the face of continued unrest in the country and a rebel insurgency.
He had up to late Saturday insisted to Patterson and other Caribbean leaders that he would not step down despite pressure from the United States, France and Canada that he resign after the Western troika had backed away from their endorsement of a Caricom initiative in which Aristide would serve out the remaining two years of his presidency, but share power with the formal opposition. The opposition had rejected that plan.
Patterson, speaking on behalf of Caricom, questioned whether Aristide's departure was "truly voluntary" given the insurgency and the failure of the international community to provide support "despite the appeals of Caricom", and described the ouster of the Haitian president as a "dangerous precedent" for the removal of democratically-elected leadership.
Aristide, who was flown to the Central African Republic, said that he was effectively kidnapped by US forces and shunted out of the country.
Patterson told reporters that Mbeki, who attended the 200th anniversary of Haiti's independence on January 1, had told the Caricom leaders that there was a "close and continuing interest" in South Africa in the situation in Haiti.
Mbeki's government had donated about US$1 million to Aristide's government to help finance the independence celebrations and at the ceremony he had hailed the importance of Haiti - where slaves defeated slave owners to create the world's first black republic - to black people around the world and its inspiration of its history to anti-apartheid fighters in pre-democratic South Africa.
Shortly before Aristide ouster, it was reported in the South African press that Mbeki was sending arms to help shore-up Haiti's demoralised police force, but this was never confirmed.
Patterson declined to say whether Caricom would send peacekeeping forces to Haiti under the United Nations mandate approved by the Security Council on Sunday night, but it is believed that any such action would be coordinated with the South Africans.
Yesterday, Patterson did say that he and other leaders were able to speak to Aristide by telephone from Bangui Central African Republic's capital.
Aristide had assured them that he was in "good physical and mental condition" Patterson said, but the Jamaican Prime Minister said he was not at liberty to discuss aspects of the discussion surrounding the nature of the deposed leader's departure from Haiti.
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