Haiti's violence worries regional leaders

Thursday, January 22, 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): Leaders of Haiti's Roman Catholic church warned Tuesday that its plan to help restore political order could be doomed by escalating violence, and Latin American leaders voiced their concern over the country's growing crisis.

Groups opposing President Jean-Bertrand Aristide have stepped up their protests and have violently clashed with police. Opposition parties, students and business leaders are demanding that Aristide step down.

Last week Aristide, who intends to stay in power until his term ends in 2006, said the would call for legislative elections "in the next six months." 

The country has been without a legislature for more than a week since the terms of its members of parliament and two-thirds of its senators expired.

A group of 19 Latin American and Caribbean nations known as the Rio Group expressed its concern Tuesday, urging Haitians to come together and find a peaceful end to the political turmoil.

The Rio Group "expresses its concern over the situation in the Republic of Haiti and hopes that stability and peace prevail," the group said in a statement released in Brasilia.

Haiti's opposition leaders are meeting Tuesday and Wednesday in Nassau with the Caribbean Community Secretariat (Caricom).

In a written statement, the Bishops' Conference of Haiti, the Roman Catholic church's leadership group, pointed to the "difficulty" in implementing its November 21 plan because "the context has changed."

The church's plan called for reform of the country's police department and the creation of a counsel of nine advisers who would help Aristide solve the crisis.

The counsel, according to the plan, would be drawn from the high court, members of the opposition and Aristide's political party, the business community, human rights groups and the Roman Catholic, evangelical Christian and Episcopalian churches.

The counsel would then appoint representatives to an electoral counsel that would set up legislative and presidential elections.

France and the United States have backed the plan, saying it could be updated if necessary.

In their statement, the bishops said the violence was aimed against "children, students and families" and they denounced "the use of armed gangs that include minors to terrorize the population."

"These deplorable acts have provoked indignation and leave in the spirit of many doubts about the authorities' desire to find an accord," the bishops said. "One cannot sincerely preach peace by tolerating the perpetration of such acts against people and private property."

Noting that this year marked the 200th anniversary of the republic's independence from France, the bishops said all parties in the conflict should take the "courageous and patriotic" decision to avoid an "irreparable catastrophe." 

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