Haiti gets new government amid row over Aristide's visit to Jamaica

by Patrick Moser

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue Tuesday formed a government of national unity composed of 13 ministers, including three women, with no party affiliations and which he hopes will restore stability to the crisis-torn Caribbean country.

The announcement came amid a deepening row triggered by exiled ex-president Jean Bertrand Aristide's visit to neighboring Jamaica, where authorities said they did not recognize the new Haitian government.

Most of the 13 ministers are technocrats and none are affiliated to any political party, though several of them are ideologically close to the opposition and one, women's affairs minister Adeline Magloire Chancy, had worked in a government of Aristide's Lavalas party in the 1990s.

Former armed forces chief Herard Abraham, 63 will head the interior and national security ministry. The retired general, who headed the armed forces from 1988 to 1991, is considered a moderate politician. 

In 1990 he had ensured the armed forces did not stand in the way of Aristide's election, and the next year he opposed a coup attempt. He had recently joined calls for the resignation of Aristide, who eventually stepped down and left Haiti for the Central African Republic on February 29.

French-educated economist Yvon Simeon, 66, will head the foreign ministry. Simeon has notably worked as a charge d'affaires in France and Belgium and as a consultant in Paris.

The Economy and Finance ministry goes to Henri Bazin, 70, an economist specialized in third world affairs who worked for the United Nations.

Latortue, 69, has vowed the interim government, which could remain in place for as long as two years, would work toward restoring democracy to violence-torn Haiti. 

He had spent several days discussing the make-up of his cabinet with members of the Lavalas party and the opposition.

But even before he formed his government, Jamaica's foreign ministry said it did not recognize it since recognition had not yet been extended by the 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom).

The announcement came a day after Latortue froze relations with the neighboring Caribbean nation.

Haitian authorities, as well as US officials, fear the Jamaica visit could incite more violence by pro-Aristide gangs, who went on a shooting and looting rampage following the ex-president's departure.

Aristide and his wife Mildred, who arrived in Kingston Monday, were expected to spend several weeks in Jamaica, visiting their two daughters.

It was not clear whether the ex-leader would return to the Central African Republic after his visit to Jamaica, but Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that "the doors of Venezuela are open for President Jean Bertrand Aristide."

Chavez also urged the Organization of American States to condemn "the decision to capture a president elected by the people and kidnapped by troops of a country that preaches democracy."

Aristide insists he remains president of Haiti and claims the United States and France kidnapped him and forced him to fly to Bangui. Asked about the claim, US State Department Spokesman Adam Ereli said Tuesday: "False. Completely, utterly without basis."

Aristide said his supporters were pleased he was now close to Haiti.

"I do believe many Haitians who are poor or suffering, or in hiding, think that if I am closer physically, it's better for them instead of being far away," he told the Washington Post.

In the Haitian capital's volatile pro-Aristide Bel Air neighborhood, militant supporters of the exiled president rejoiced at the news Aristide was only 120 miles from home.

"President Aristide in Jamaica: for us this is a continuation of the struggle," said Wilgo Supreme Edouard, a leader of the staunchly pro-Aristide Bel Air Militant Front.

In a statement that could help ease fears of renewed violence, he said no demonstrations were planned in the immediate future and that pro-Aristide militants were prepared to work toward national reconciliation.

The violence that followed Aristide's departure has generally subsided, though it has erupted again sporadically, and US troops of the multinational force in Haiti have come under attack on several occasions.

US troops suffered their first casualty when a Marine was shot in the arm late Sunday while patrolling in Bel Air.

Meanwhile, two armed Haitians were shot and killed over the weekend by rebel leader Guy Philippe's security guards as he drove through the southwestern city of Petit-Goave, an opposition politician said Tuesday.

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