Aristide declares he's ready to die for Haiti; US to offer peace plan

by Dominique Levanti

Friday, February 20, 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): Embattled Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide declared Thursday he was ready to die for his violence-torn country, as Washington prepared to present an international plan aimed at pulling Haiti back from the brink of rebellion.

"I, too, am ready to die if that is what I must do to defend my country," Aristide said, two weeks into a deepening revolt that has claimed more than 55 lives.

Rebels were threatening to seize Haiti's second-largest city unless Aristide resigns, and the United States for the first time conceded that Aristide's resignation might be part of a negotiated political settlement.

"We're working with the international community, and I think we've got a solid consensus with the Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations, France, Canada, a number of other countries," Secretary of State Colin Powell told ABC radio.

"We're doing what we can to put together a political plan that we will offer to President Aristide and also to the political opposition," Powell said. "And I think if they will both accept this plan and start executing on it, we might find a way through this crisis politically."

The State Department said the plan would be presented later Thursday by the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince.

Powell allowed that the embattled Aristide might step down, but only if done constitutionally and as part of a negotiated political deal. Previously, the United States had stressed only that embattled Aristide, the elected president, was due to serve through 2006.

"That's not an element of the plan, because under the constitution he is the president for some time to come yet," Powell said.

"Now, if an agreement is reached that moves out in another direction, that's fine, but right now he has no intention to step down, and since he is the elected leader of Haiti, we should not be putting forward a plan that would require him to step down."

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the proposal was essentially the same as that tabled by the 15-nation Caribbean community, Caricom, but with the added clout of the international community.

"This is within the framework of the Caricom plan," he said. "These are steps to move forward consistent with the Caricom plan. The full weight of the international community is behind this."

The OAS passed a resolution late Thursday urging Aristide to respect human rights and comply with Caricom's peace proposals.

Caricom has floated several ideas for Haiti, including the demobilization of armed rebels, the release of political prisoners and allowing Aristide to serve out his term, but with the appointment of a new prime minister acceptable to the opposition.

However Aristide had earlier rejected that proposal.

"If you are talking about the opposition that is publicly supporting terrorists, don't think I will have the irresponsibility of handing them over such a post," he said in an interview with Radio Canada.

After two weeks of armed insurrection against Aristide's rule, newly named rebel commander Guy Philippe, a former Haitian police chief, said "the international community must tell him (Aristide) to resign quickly, or else we will take the palace," referring to the National Palace and presidential seat in the capital.

In other developments Thursday, the United States issued a travel warning urging US citizens to leave Haiti "while commercial carriers are still operating on an uninterrupted schedule."

And the Pentagon said a small team from the Miami-based Southern Command would arrive in Haiti in the coming days to assess security at the US embassy.

In Haiti, a police helicopter patrolled for the second day Thursday over the Hinche region which fell Monday to a band of soldiers-turned-rebels who earlier had attacked and looted a police station and killed two policemen.

In Paris, Action Against Hunger (ACF), a French non-governmental organization, warned the violence in Haiti would lead to major food shortages within weeks unless the international community acts.

Canada and the United States announced they were sending humanitarian aid to Haiti.

The UN Security Council condemned the bloodshed and urged Aristide and opposition leaders to "restore confidence and dialogue."

Brazil, Argentina, Chile and other South American nations echoed the same concerns in a statement calling for a political dialogue.

Aristide's government has appealed for international assistance to help put down the rebellion but so far has been rebuffed by the United States. UN diplomats said the Security Council was not considering sending in UN forces.

In 1994, then-US president Bill Clinton sent 20,000 troops to return Aristide to power after he was ousted in a coup.

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