CARRINGTON... without an acceptable election, relations with Caricom would be difficult

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - Haiti is not likely to be welcomed back into the 15-nation Caribbean Community unless the country holds free and fair elections later this year, the bloc's secretary general said yesterday.

Edwin Carrington said several Caribbean leaders conveyed that message to Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin during a meeting on the sidelines of last week's UN General Assembly.

MARTIN... says Caricom may have isolated the violence-torn country for too long

Martin, whose government has sent about 100 peacekeepers to help stabilise Haiti, had voiced concern that the regional bloc known as Caricom may have isolated the violence-torn country for too long since a February 2004 revolt toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Carrington said.

But the leaders insisted that restoring ties could happen only if Haiti takes steps to ensure November 20 presidential and legislative elections are legitimate, including improving voter registration and making the Electoral Council more efficient, Carrington said.

"Without an acceptable election, relations with Caricom would be difficult," Carrington said Caribbean leaders told Martin during the meeting, which was also attended by Haiti's Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue. The leaders added that Haiti's Electoral Council "does not seem to be getting its act together," Carrington said, without elaborating.
The Caribbean Community suspended Haiti shortly after the revolt that ousted Aristide, the country's first democratically elected leader. The bloc has refused to recognise Haiti's US-backed interim government, saying it was unconstitutionally installed.

Haiti's elections have been postponed several times because of persistent logistical snags and crippling violence blamed on well-armed street gangs bent on destabilising the country. Voter registration has reached 2.3 million, or about half of those eligible.

Carrington said Martin told the leaders he "felt that Caricom might have stayed out of the Haiti situation... for too long".
"But he did not try to push us too hard to re-engage with Haiti," Carrington said.

The meeting was attended by Interim Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, St Vincent Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and St Kitts Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, Carrington said.

Haiti joined the Caribbean Community as a full member in 2002, becoming the bloc's most populous member with 8 million people.

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