As expectations rise for a solution to this country's political crisis, so is the anxiety among Haiti's small but powerful elite. From the swank restaurants that hug the mountainsides around the capital to the air-conditioned mansions of the rich, the swagger of nearly 200 years of dominance is giving way to recrimination, introspection and vows of defiance in the face of renewed determination by the international community to restore Haiti's exiled President, the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
For many of the wealthy, their fierce opposition to Father Aristide's return is justified by what they say is the exiled leader's penchant for class struggle. Although international human rights groups have criticized Father Aristide for appearing at times to justify the use of violence by his supporters, they say there were few actual cases of politically motivated attacks during his tenure. From his exile, moreover, Father Aristide has repeatedly rejected the politics of revenge.
At least as powerful as these fears, many of the elite admit, are feelings of guilt over the 18 months of repressive violence and its untold hundreds of victims, whose lives have been the price of the ouster of Father Aristide. Also lurking in their thoughts is the fear that any lasting settlement of this country's perennial instability will require a lessening of deeply rooted privileges that economists say has made the gap between rich and poor in Haiti as large as anywhere in the world. "What you have here is a powerful bunch of people with incredible privileges," said an economist with a long career in international development who arrived recently to produce a study of the Haitian economy. "They enjoy duty-free imports, they pay no taxes and labor costs them next to nothing. I have never seen any place quite like this in the world and changing it will not be easy."
One young pharmaceutical wholesaler added: "The elite of this country must admit that it has failed at its task for over 40 years. We may dislike Aristide, but how do we explain that we have never provided for education for the people, or seen to it that even their most basic needs are met?"
A similar view was expressed by a veteran journalist with Le Nouvelliste, a conservative paper that, partly because of Haiti's widespread illiteracy, is mostly read by the well-to-do. "We have played badly, and it is time to accept the fact that if the country has reached this state of affairs, it is our responsibility," the journalist said. "The problem here is that the truly wealthy live so separately from the rest of the population that the reality of the country is not within their grasp."
For Dante Caputo, the United Nations mediator who has been negotiating a solution to the crisis, the differences in the way the wealthy few and the rest of the population perceive Haiti's crisis has been at the center of the difficulties in navigating a path for Father Aristide's peaceful return.
Diplomats say the wealthy and their allies in the military must be protected against vengeance attacks, while the poor must be allowed the freedom of expression and the benefits of Government largess that since the country's foundation in 1804 have been the exclusive franchise of the rich. "In the next few days we will see if the Haitian society can be made aware of the need for a fresh beginning, a clean break from the past," Mr. Caputo said, adding that negotiations over the country's future had reached a "decisive moment."
Mr. Caputo, a former Argentine Foreign Minister, was forced to cancel a consultative meeting with members of the country's Chamber of Commerce last week when it became clear that it was intended more as humiliating demonstration of their rejection of Father Aristide than a sincere exchange of views. With over 200 businessmen gathered in a hall shouting angrily even before he arrived, Mr. Caputo abruptly called off his appearance.
Diplomats say they are confident that a settlement is within reach despite sentiments like these. But held in reserve as leverage just in case, they say, is the prospect of a disastrous crash of the Haitian economy, which many feel is imminent. With no settlement, or with stiffer sanctions as the price for the elite's failure to cooperate, one foreign economist said this country "will soon be hanging dead from a noose."
Still, there are those who resist. "We are the sons of the soldiers of the independence of this country," said Serge Beaulieu, a radio broadcaster whose populist style and radical conservatism appeals to many here. "We are going to fight, maybe we will die, but we will fight."
Source: New York Times
Wednesday, March 31, 1993
Thursday, March 11, 1993
THE CIA'S HAITIAN CONNECTION
Although the Clinton administration insists it is making every effort to return ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power, covert connections between Haiti's military junta and the CIA may be helping to keep the regime in place.
Confidential government documents obtained by the Bay Guardian show that the CIA helped establish and finance Haiti's powerful National Intelligence Service, which played a key role in the 1991 coup and continues to provide paramilitary muscle for the anti-Aristide dictatorship. As recently as February 1993, a confidential congressional report described the NIS as "working closely" with the CIA.
The documents-along with interviews with members of Congress, senior administration sources, and a high-ranking member of Aristide's cabinet-in-exile-raise troubling questions about Clinton's policy toward the tiny, impoverished Caribbean nation and provide strong evidence to support critics who claim the United States is giving little more than lip service to the cause of Haitian democracy.
Among other things, the Bay Guardian has learned:
Haitian Lt. Col. Joseph Michel Francois-the reputed kingpin behind the military junta-was trained at a clandestine U.S. Army combat facility known as the "coup school," whose alumni also include jailed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and former Salvadoran president Roberto d'Aubuisson.
Paramilitary death squads controlled by Francois and Frank Romain, the former mayor of Port-au-Prince, are carrying out what some critics call a systematic attempt to wipe out Aristide's base of support, making it difficult if not impossible for the ousted president to reclaim political power. The death squads, known as attaches have been linked to roughly 4,000 murders since the coup.
Former Haitian officials and congressional sources link Francois and the NIS to a massive drug-smuggling and money-laundering operation that sends at least a billion dollars worth of cocaine a year to the United States. Aristide's attempt to crack down on the drug ring may have helped spark the coup-and since the military junta took power, cocaine exports have soared.
In fact, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency operative who was investigating an NIS officer allegedly involved in drug smuggling had to flee Haiti in 1992 after receiving death threats on a private telephone line with a secret number known only to a few top government officials.
At least two senior members of Congress, Rep. Charles Rangel and Rep. Major Owens, both New York Democrats, told the Bay Guardian they have enough reason to suspect CIA involvement in the Aristide coup that they are calling for a full congressional investigation.
HALF HEARTED EFFORTS
As the crisis in Haiti drags on and the military junta refuses to relinquish power, critics have charged that the United States is making only token efforts to restore Aristide to office.
Larry Burns, an analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based Council on Hemispheric Relations, pointed out that the United States has not fully participated in the United Nations embargo of Haiti (unlike most other countries, the U.S. has exempted its own companies in Haiti from the embargo). It's also curious, he told the Bay Guardian, that the Clinton administration has failed to make a public issue of the military regime's role in drug trafficking-a tactic that the Bush administration used extensively to discredit Panama's Manuel Noriega.
"You would think that the White House would want, as one of its major points, to pin the drug tail on the military donkey in Haiti," Burns said. "It would be their best opportunity to rally the American people to a pro-Aristide position. Yet they never used it."
White House Deputy Press Secretary Don Steinberg told the Bay Guardian that "there's nothing halfhearted about our administration's commitment to returning democracy to Haiti and Aristide to power."
"We sent military trainers to Haiti, we've supported the embargo, and we've fully supported the Governor's Island accords," which were supposed to lead to Aristide's return, Steinberg said. "This administration has not for a second coddled Francois or Cedras." Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras heads the military junta.
But Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) said he was worried that the administration's silence on the military's connection to the drug trade would only embolden the junta and tighten its grip on power.
"We have turned a very deaf ear to what is obviously a moving force," he said. "It leads you to wonder if our silence is because we knew this was going on and that our complicity in drug activity may parallel the accusations that were raised about our involvement in drug activities-that is, our government and the Central Intelligence Agency's-during the Vietnam conflict."
Although they admit they have no hard evidence, both Rangel and Aristide's exiled interior minister, Patrick Elie, told the Bay Guardian they see shadows of the ClA's hidden hand behind the September 1991 coup, which overthrew Aristide after only seven months in office.
"I don't have a specific answer as to whether the CIA was involved," Rangel said. "But I do know that our feelings against Aristide were made pretty clear before the coup."
Rangel was referring to the Bush administration's open backing of former World Bank official Marc Bizan against Aristide. But in a show of popular support that caught the Bush administration by surprise, Aristide received 67.5 percent of the vote, while Bizan captured only 13 percent.
Elie told the Bay Guardian that the relationship between the CIA and Haiti's National Intelligence Service went far beyond mere cooperation.
"In fact," he said "the NIS was created by the Central Intelligence Agency. It was created by it and funded by it."
Elie, whose job included oversight of the NIS, launched an investigation shortly after taking office that revealed that the CIA had covertly given the NIS $500,000-twice what the U.S. government was providing Haiti overtly for drug interdiction.
He said that although the NIS was supposed to be used to combat drug smugglers, "in fact, all the NIS has done has been political repression and spying on Haitians."
Records of the Drug Enforcement Administration confirm that the NIS operates with CIA assistance. According to a confidential DEA document titled "Drug Trafficking in Haiti," presented to members of Congress in February 1993 and obtained by the Bay Guardian, the NIS "is a covert counter-narcotics intelligence unit which often works in unison with the CIA."
On Sept. 26, 1992, the report states, the DEA itself was driven from Haiti when its main agent was forced to flee the country after receiving death threats. DEA attaché Tony Greco received the threats on his private line in the U.S. embassy, "given out to only a few trusted individuals," the memo says, within a week of his providing information that led to the arrest of a NIS officer for drug trafficking. "The unidentified threat," the report states, "came from an individual who claims to control many Haitian soldiers in the narcotics distribution trade."
Rep. Major Owens (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus task force on Haiti, told the Bay Guardian: "I worry about the CIA having had a role in the overthrow of the Aristide government. The Congressional Black Caucus has joined with congressman Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.) in calling for a full-scale investigation. "
Bay Guardian phone calls to the CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., were not returned. Steinberg said he knew nothing about possible CIA involvement in the coup and was "hearing about it for the first time." He refused to comment on the allegations of drug smuggling.
THE SCHOOL OF COUPS
Rangel, who has traveled several times to Haiti and is close to the deposed administration of Aristide, told the Bay Guardian that although Cedras heads the junta, Francois, who is also Port-au-Prince's chief of police, wields the real power.
Francois, Rangel said, "has been targeted as being directly responsible for the recent murder of [Justice Minister] Guy Malary," who was dragged out of church, beaten, and killed on Oct. 14.
Michel Francois learned some of his skills right here in the United States. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas (SOA), which Father Roy Bourgeois, founder of SOA Watch in Columbus Georgia, described as a "combat and counterinsurgency training facility for soldiers from Central and South America and the Caribbean."
White House spokesperson Steinberg didn't deny that Francois had attended the Army training school. "But just because he graduated from SOA doesn't mean he has U.S. government intelligence connections," Steinberg said. "A lot of people graduate from that school."
Bourgeois said SOA was founded in 1946 and operated in Panama until it was kicked out in 1984 as part of the canal treaty. It was reestablished in Ft. Benning, Ga.
"In Latin America," he said, "it's known as La Escuela de Golpes, the school of coups," because of the achievements of some of its 55,000 graduates, including d'Aubuisson; Noriega, who is serving 40 years in federal prison for drug trafficking; Gen. Hugo Banzer, who ruled as Bolivia's dictator from 1971 to 1978; and Hector Gramajo, Guatemala's former defense minister who helped oversee years of
brutal repression in that country and was the guest speaker at SOA's graduation in December 1991.
On March 15, 1993, the United Nations Truth Commission released its report on El Salvador and, Bourgeois said, "about 75 percent of the officers cited in the most serious massacres, including the killing of six Jesuit priests, the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, and the rape and murder of four U.S. nuns, were SOA graduates."
Bay Guardian calls to SOA were not returned.
DRUG MONEY
The coup and resulting embargo may have left thousands of Haitians dead and created terrible hardship for many thousands more, but it's apparently been quite profitable for the drug traffickers.
According to a Feb. 10, 1993, memo from one of Conyers' congressional staffers, a copy of which was obtained by the Bay Guardian, "the wholesale value of Haiti's drug industry on the U.S. market is now equal to $1 billion a year, which equals the entire revenue of Haiti's population of six million.
"Haiti has become the second most important transshipment point, after the Bahamas, for cocaine shipments from Colombia to the U.S.," the memo states.
The DEA's "Drug Trafficking in Haiti" document also says that Haiti is believed to be a main center for laundering of drug money.
One of Elie's key tasks was to have been overseeing the drug interdiction efforts, and he had developed an extensive program that included close cooperation with U.S. agencies. But the program was barely off the ground when the coup drove him into hiding in Haiti-and five months later, into the United States. (He has since fled the U.S., fearing for his life, and called the Bay Guardian from an undisclosed location because he was told there is a $750,000 contract on his head. Three pro-Aristide radio broadcasters have been murdered in Florida.)
"While I was in hiding," he said, "I monitored Michel Francois over the airwaves directing the landing of a [drug smuggling] plane right in the middle of Port-au-Prince. I immediately notified the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince. I was in touch with the CIA main agent there at the time, and I gave him the time and date of that landing.
"I don't know if he did anything with it. Since the coup, despite our repeated attempts to continue this collaboration with the U.S. as the legitimate government of Haiti, we were met with stonewalling."
Elie's account is supported by the memo to Conyers, which stated that after the coup, "all those jailed for drug-trafficking have been released and...Michel Francois has personally supervised the landing of planes carrying drugs and weapons."
And a September 1992 State Department report titled "International Narcotics Control Strategy Report: Mid-Year Update" noted that "although President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was planning new policies and institutions to combat narcotics trafficking, his ouster...crippled narcotics control efforts in Haiti."
Meanwhile, observers say, the violence continues-targeted largely at the popular organizations that helped bring Aristide to power. As part of the reign of terror, death lists are being posted in small Haitian villages, Liam Mahoney, an independent human rights monitor in Haiti, told the Bay Guardian by phone on Nov. 3.
The military regime so far has ignored the Governor's Island accords that on Oct. 30 called for Aristide's return to power, leading some to speculate that the junta wants to completely destroy Aristide's power base before they allow him to return-if they allow him to return at all.
"If something is not done soon, there will be no Aristide supporters left," said Rep. Owens. "They will all be destroyed."
Source: Global research.ca
Confidential government documents obtained by the Bay Guardian show that the CIA helped establish and finance Haiti's powerful National Intelligence Service, which played a key role in the 1991 coup and continues to provide paramilitary muscle for the anti-Aristide dictatorship. As recently as February 1993, a confidential congressional report described the NIS as "working closely" with the CIA.
The documents-along with interviews with members of Congress, senior administration sources, and a high-ranking member of Aristide's cabinet-in-exile-raise troubling questions about Clinton's policy toward the tiny, impoverished Caribbean nation and provide strong evidence to support critics who claim the United States is giving little more than lip service to the cause of Haitian democracy.
Among other things, the Bay Guardian has learned:
Haitian Lt. Col. Joseph Michel Francois-the reputed kingpin behind the military junta-was trained at a clandestine U.S. Army combat facility known as the "coup school," whose alumni also include jailed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and former Salvadoran president Roberto d'Aubuisson.
Paramilitary death squads controlled by Francois and Frank Romain, the former mayor of Port-au-Prince, are carrying out what some critics call a systematic attempt to wipe out Aristide's base of support, making it difficult if not impossible for the ousted president to reclaim political power. The death squads, known as attaches have been linked to roughly 4,000 murders since the coup.
Former Haitian officials and congressional sources link Francois and the NIS to a massive drug-smuggling and money-laundering operation that sends at least a billion dollars worth of cocaine a year to the United States. Aristide's attempt to crack down on the drug ring may have helped spark the coup-and since the military junta took power, cocaine exports have soared.
In fact, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency operative who was investigating an NIS officer allegedly involved in drug smuggling had to flee Haiti in 1992 after receiving death threats on a private telephone line with a secret number known only to a few top government officials.
At least two senior members of Congress, Rep. Charles Rangel and Rep. Major Owens, both New York Democrats, told the Bay Guardian they have enough reason to suspect CIA involvement in the Aristide coup that they are calling for a full congressional investigation.
HALF HEARTED EFFORTS
As the crisis in Haiti drags on and the military junta refuses to relinquish power, critics have charged that the United States is making only token efforts to restore Aristide to office.
Larry Burns, an analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based Council on Hemispheric Relations, pointed out that the United States has not fully participated in the United Nations embargo of Haiti (unlike most other countries, the U.S. has exempted its own companies in Haiti from the embargo). It's also curious, he told the Bay Guardian, that the Clinton administration has failed to make a public issue of the military regime's role in drug trafficking-a tactic that the Bush administration used extensively to discredit Panama's Manuel Noriega.
"You would think that the White House would want, as one of its major points, to pin the drug tail on the military donkey in Haiti," Burns said. "It would be their best opportunity to rally the American people to a pro-Aristide position. Yet they never used it."
White House Deputy Press Secretary Don Steinberg told the Bay Guardian that "there's nothing halfhearted about our administration's commitment to returning democracy to Haiti and Aristide to power."
"We sent military trainers to Haiti, we've supported the embargo, and we've fully supported the Governor's Island accords," which were supposed to lead to Aristide's return, Steinberg said. "This administration has not for a second coddled Francois or Cedras." Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras heads the military junta.
But Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) said he was worried that the administration's silence on the military's connection to the drug trade would only embolden the junta and tighten its grip on power.
"We have turned a very deaf ear to what is obviously a moving force," he said. "It leads you to wonder if our silence is because we knew this was going on and that our complicity in drug activity may parallel the accusations that were raised about our involvement in drug activities-that is, our government and the Central Intelligence Agency's-during the Vietnam conflict."
Although they admit they have no hard evidence, both Rangel and Aristide's exiled interior minister, Patrick Elie, told the Bay Guardian they see shadows of the ClA's hidden hand behind the September 1991 coup, which overthrew Aristide after only seven months in office.
"I don't have a specific answer as to whether the CIA was involved," Rangel said. "But I do know that our feelings against Aristide were made pretty clear before the coup."
Rangel was referring to the Bush administration's open backing of former World Bank official Marc Bizan against Aristide. But in a show of popular support that caught the Bush administration by surprise, Aristide received 67.5 percent of the vote, while Bizan captured only 13 percent.
Elie told the Bay Guardian that the relationship between the CIA and Haiti's National Intelligence Service went far beyond mere cooperation.
"In fact," he said "the NIS was created by the Central Intelligence Agency. It was created by it and funded by it."
Elie, whose job included oversight of the NIS, launched an investigation shortly after taking office that revealed that the CIA had covertly given the NIS $500,000-twice what the U.S. government was providing Haiti overtly for drug interdiction.
He said that although the NIS was supposed to be used to combat drug smugglers, "in fact, all the NIS has done has been political repression and spying on Haitians."
Records of the Drug Enforcement Administration confirm that the NIS operates with CIA assistance. According to a confidential DEA document titled "Drug Trafficking in Haiti," presented to members of Congress in February 1993 and obtained by the Bay Guardian, the NIS "is a covert counter-narcotics intelligence unit which often works in unison with the CIA."
On Sept. 26, 1992, the report states, the DEA itself was driven from Haiti when its main agent was forced to flee the country after receiving death threats. DEA attaché Tony Greco received the threats on his private line in the U.S. embassy, "given out to only a few trusted individuals," the memo says, within a week of his providing information that led to the arrest of a NIS officer for drug trafficking. "The unidentified threat," the report states, "came from an individual who claims to control many Haitian soldiers in the narcotics distribution trade."
Rep. Major Owens (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus task force on Haiti, told the Bay Guardian: "I worry about the CIA having had a role in the overthrow of the Aristide government. The Congressional Black Caucus has joined with congressman Joseph Kennedy (D-Mass.) in calling for a full-scale investigation. "
Bay Guardian phone calls to the CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., were not returned. Steinberg said he knew nothing about possible CIA involvement in the coup and was "hearing about it for the first time." He refused to comment on the allegations of drug smuggling.
THE SCHOOL OF COUPS
Rangel, who has traveled several times to Haiti and is close to the deposed administration of Aristide, told the Bay Guardian that although Cedras heads the junta, Francois, who is also Port-au-Prince's chief of police, wields the real power.
Francois, Rangel said, "has been targeted as being directly responsible for the recent murder of [Justice Minister] Guy Malary," who was dragged out of church, beaten, and killed on Oct. 14.
Michel Francois learned some of his skills right here in the United States. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army's School of the Americas (SOA), which Father Roy Bourgeois, founder of SOA Watch in Columbus Georgia, described as a "combat and counterinsurgency training facility for soldiers from Central and South America and the Caribbean."
White House spokesperson Steinberg didn't deny that Francois had attended the Army training school. "But just because he graduated from SOA doesn't mean he has U.S. government intelligence connections," Steinberg said. "A lot of people graduate from that school."
Bourgeois said SOA was founded in 1946 and operated in Panama until it was kicked out in 1984 as part of the canal treaty. It was reestablished in Ft. Benning, Ga.
"In Latin America," he said, "it's known as La Escuela de Golpes, the school of coups," because of the achievements of some of its 55,000 graduates, including d'Aubuisson; Noriega, who is serving 40 years in federal prison for drug trafficking; Gen. Hugo Banzer, who ruled as Bolivia's dictator from 1971 to 1978; and Hector Gramajo, Guatemala's former defense minister who helped oversee years of
brutal repression in that country and was the guest speaker at SOA's graduation in December 1991.
On March 15, 1993, the United Nations Truth Commission released its report on El Salvador and, Bourgeois said, "about 75 percent of the officers cited in the most serious massacres, including the killing of six Jesuit priests, the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, and the rape and murder of four U.S. nuns, were SOA graduates."
Bay Guardian calls to SOA were not returned.
DRUG MONEY
The coup and resulting embargo may have left thousands of Haitians dead and created terrible hardship for many thousands more, but it's apparently been quite profitable for the drug traffickers.
According to a Feb. 10, 1993, memo from one of Conyers' congressional staffers, a copy of which was obtained by the Bay Guardian, "the wholesale value of Haiti's drug industry on the U.S. market is now equal to $1 billion a year, which equals the entire revenue of Haiti's population of six million.
"Haiti has become the second most important transshipment point, after the Bahamas, for cocaine shipments from Colombia to the U.S.," the memo states.
The DEA's "Drug Trafficking in Haiti" document also says that Haiti is believed to be a main center for laundering of drug money.
One of Elie's key tasks was to have been overseeing the drug interdiction efforts, and he had developed an extensive program that included close cooperation with U.S. agencies. But the program was barely off the ground when the coup drove him into hiding in Haiti-and five months later, into the United States. (He has since fled the U.S., fearing for his life, and called the Bay Guardian from an undisclosed location because he was told there is a $750,000 contract on his head. Three pro-Aristide radio broadcasters have been murdered in Florida.)
"While I was in hiding," he said, "I monitored Michel Francois over the airwaves directing the landing of a [drug smuggling] plane right in the middle of Port-au-Prince. I immediately notified the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince. I was in touch with the CIA main agent there at the time, and I gave him the time and date of that landing.
"I don't know if he did anything with it. Since the coup, despite our repeated attempts to continue this collaboration with the U.S. as the legitimate government of Haiti, we were met with stonewalling."
Elie's account is supported by the memo to Conyers, which stated that after the coup, "all those jailed for drug-trafficking have been released and...Michel Francois has personally supervised the landing of planes carrying drugs and weapons."
And a September 1992 State Department report titled "International Narcotics Control Strategy Report: Mid-Year Update" noted that "although President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was planning new policies and institutions to combat narcotics trafficking, his ouster...crippled narcotics control efforts in Haiti."
Meanwhile, observers say, the violence continues-targeted largely at the popular organizations that helped bring Aristide to power. As part of the reign of terror, death lists are being posted in small Haitian villages, Liam Mahoney, an independent human rights monitor in Haiti, told the Bay Guardian by phone on Nov. 3.
The military regime so far has ignored the Governor's Island accords that on Oct. 30 called for Aristide's return to power, leading some to speculate that the junta wants to completely destroy Aristide's power base before they allow him to return-if they allow him to return at all.
"If something is not done soon, there will be no Aristide supporters left," said Rep. Owens. "They will all be destroyed."
Source: Global research.ca
Friday, February 26, 1993
2,500 at Rally in Haiti Urge Return of Aristide
A funeral Mass today for victims of last week's ferry disaster turned into the largest demonstration in support of the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide since he was was overthrown as President in September 1991.
About 2,500 people attended the two-hour service for the 600 to 900 people who perished when the ferry Neptune sank on Feb. 16. At least a dozen times, people chanted "Aristide or death!" Representatives of the military-backed Government did not attend. Despite efforts by the head of a United Nations human rights mission to maintain calm, several demonstrators were arrested outside the cathedral after scuffling with bystanders shouting anti-Aristide slogans.
Bishop Willy Romelus, a prominent Haitian clergyman who gave the funeral oration, was attacked when he left the cathedral and was rescued when a half-dozen members of the United Nations delegation jumped between him and the attackers.
Source: New York Times
About 2,500 people attended the two-hour service for the 600 to 900 people who perished when the ferry Neptune sank on Feb. 16. At least a dozen times, people chanted "Aristide or death!" Representatives of the military-backed Government did not attend. Despite efforts by the head of a United Nations human rights mission to maintain calm, several demonstrators were arrested outside the cathedral after scuffling with bystanders shouting anti-Aristide slogans.
Bishop Willy Romelus, a prominent Haitian clergyman who gave the funeral oration, was attacked when he left the cathedral and was rescued when a half-dozen members of the United Nations delegation jumped between him and the attackers.
Source: New York Times
Tuesday, February 2, 1993
Thousands Are Fleeing Togo After New Spate of Killings
Women carrying children on their backs trudged along the beach today toward Ghana, joining an exodus of thousands fleeing new attacks by soldiers. Soldiers loyal to Togo's leader, Gen. Gnassingbe Eyadema, are accused of killing hundreds of political opponents to keep him in power. Six people were killed over the weekend, in an area known as an opposition stronghold, in the latest outbreak of violence. About 100 troops and paramilitary police also ransacked central Lome and nearby suburbs today.
President Eyadema, who has ruled this West African nation since 1967, agreed in 1991 to let opposition parties install a transitional Government, but then blocked its efforts to take power.
Source: New York Times
President Eyadema, who has ruled this West African nation since 1967, agreed in 1991 to let opposition parties install a transitional Government, but then blocked its efforts to take power.
Source: New York Times
Saturday, December 19, 1992
German Parliament Ratifies Treaty for European Union
Germany ratified the treaty on European political and economic union today, becoming the 10th of the 12 European Community nations to do so. The Bundesrat, Parliament's upper house, unanimously approved the treaty after just two hours of debate. The Bundestag, the lower house, approved it on Dec. 2.
All 12 European Community nations approved the treaty in the Dutch town of Maastricht last year, but each country's parliament or voters must ratify it before it can take effect. Still undecided are Denmark, whose voters have already refused once to ratify the treaty, and Britain, where fear of a loss of sovereignty appears high.
Source: New York Times
All 12 European Community nations approved the treaty in the Dutch town of Maastricht last year, but each country's parliament or voters must ratify it before it can take effect. Still undecided are Denmark, whose voters have already refused once to ratify the treaty, and Britain, where fear of a loss of sovereignty appears high.
Source: New York Times
Wednesday, December 2, 1992
Guerrilla Group Vows More Attacks on South Africa Whites
A small black guerrilla faction warned today that its attack on a golf club on Saturday night marked the beginning of a new campaign against white civilian targets, evidently aimed at disrupting a compromise on South Africa's political future. But the Government and the leading black organization, Nelson Mandela's African National Congress, fiercely condemned the attack in King William's Town, which left two couples dead and 17 people wounded at a wine tasting where much of the town's white gentry had gathered.
The Government and the congress planned to meet on Wednesday for a new round of talks to fix a target date for elections. But some South Africans fear that a sustained campaign of terrorism against whites, if it materializes, could weaken the Government's ability to surrender power. "There will be more attacks of this nature with more frequency, especially in white areas," Johnny Majozi, information officer of the Azanian Peoples Liberation Army, told the South African Press Association from Harare, Zimbabwe. "We would like to remind white South Africans that there is a war going on inside the country and they should not be surprised."
The attack, believed to be the worst political violence against white civilians since President F. W. de Klerk took office in 1989, has horrified and alarmed whites. It was the kind of indiscriminate violence that has become commonplace in black communities, but has left whites untouched. The Conservative Party, which opposes Mr. de Klerk's dealings with the black majority, called for a police crackdown and said the attack was the work of "terrorists permitted to operate freely in South Africa by a Government that has lost the will to govern." So far, the theme has not been picked up by more mainstream whites. "My guess is that this poses no short-term threat to the transition," said John Kane-Berman, director of the South African Institute of Race Relations. "But if attacks like this continue and the Government is unable to stop them, it helps to erode the Government's support base and its room for maneuver."
The Azanian Peoples Liberation Army is the guerrilla wing of the Pan Africanist Congress, which broke away from the African National Congress in 1959 to pursue a more militant ideology rooted in black consciousness. In contrast to the African National Congress, the Pan Africanist Congress has insisted on keeping an active military wing. Until recently, it refused to negotiate with the white Government. In the 1970's and 1980's the guerrilla wing of the African National Congress waged a sporadic underground war, briefly including attacks on sporting events and shopping malls. The congress suspended its guerrilla war after Mr. de Klerk legalized it in 1990. Although small in numbers, the Pan Africanist Congress has attracted considerable support among disaffected young people in the black townships with its militant stance. Recently leaders of the militant group have met with Government officials and said they were willing to join the multiparty negotiations on a new political order. It was not clear why the organization's armed wing would simultaneously try to undermine the talks, but it has a history of bitter internal divisions.
Benny Alexander, the secretary-general of the Pan Africanist Congress, issued a statement after the King William's Town killings, declining to comment on the origins of the assault but protesting the "international hullabaloo around the attack purely because white people have died."
Source: New York Times
The Government and the congress planned to meet on Wednesday for a new round of talks to fix a target date for elections. But some South Africans fear that a sustained campaign of terrorism against whites, if it materializes, could weaken the Government's ability to surrender power. "There will be more attacks of this nature with more frequency, especially in white areas," Johnny Majozi, information officer of the Azanian Peoples Liberation Army, told the South African Press Association from Harare, Zimbabwe. "We would like to remind white South Africans that there is a war going on inside the country and they should not be surprised."
The attack, believed to be the worst political violence against white civilians since President F. W. de Klerk took office in 1989, has horrified and alarmed whites. It was the kind of indiscriminate violence that has become commonplace in black communities, but has left whites untouched. The Conservative Party, which opposes Mr. de Klerk's dealings with the black majority, called for a police crackdown and said the attack was the work of "terrorists permitted to operate freely in South Africa by a Government that has lost the will to govern." So far, the theme has not been picked up by more mainstream whites. "My guess is that this poses no short-term threat to the transition," said John Kane-Berman, director of the South African Institute of Race Relations. "But if attacks like this continue and the Government is unable to stop them, it helps to erode the Government's support base and its room for maneuver."
The Azanian Peoples Liberation Army is the guerrilla wing of the Pan Africanist Congress, which broke away from the African National Congress in 1959 to pursue a more militant ideology rooted in black consciousness. In contrast to the African National Congress, the Pan Africanist Congress has insisted on keeping an active military wing. Until recently, it refused to negotiate with the white Government. In the 1970's and 1980's the guerrilla wing of the African National Congress waged a sporadic underground war, briefly including attacks on sporting events and shopping malls. The congress suspended its guerrilla war after Mr. de Klerk legalized it in 1990. Although small in numbers, the Pan Africanist Congress has attracted considerable support among disaffected young people in the black townships with its militant stance. Recently leaders of the militant group have met with Government officials and said they were willing to join the multiparty negotiations on a new political order. It was not clear why the organization's armed wing would simultaneously try to undermine the talks, but it has a history of bitter internal divisions.
Benny Alexander, the secretary-general of the Pan Africanist Congress, issued a statement after the King William's Town killings, declining to comment on the origins of the assault but protesting the "international hullabaloo around the attack purely because white people have died."
Source: New York Times
Saturday, November 7, 1992
Liberian Rebel Is No Friend of Democracy, Nigerian Says
The military leader of Nigeria opened a regional meeting on the fighting in Liberia today by denouncing the Liberian rebel leader Charles Taylor.
"Taylor must now be seen by the whole world for what he really represents, said the Nigerian head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. "He does not represent democracy. He does not believe in the freedom of choice that is the God-given right of the Liberian people."
Leaders of 8 of the 16 countries in the Economic Community of West African States gathered here to discuss imposing an economic blockade on Mr. Taylor and proposals for a cease-fire to end his drive on the Liberian capital.
Source: New York Times
"Taylor must now be seen by the whole world for what he really represents, said the Nigerian head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. "He does not represent democracy. He does not believe in the freedom of choice that is the God-given right of the Liberian people."
Leaders of 8 of the 16 countries in the Economic Community of West African States gathered here to discuss imposing an economic blockade on Mr. Taylor and proposals for a cease-fire to end his drive on the Liberian capital.
Source: New York Times
Friday, October 2, 1992
New Fighting in Liberia
Heavy fighting broke out today between rival militias on the outskirts of Liberia's capital, prompting a West African peacekeeping force to rush troops to the area. Residents of Monrovia said fighters belonging to a rebel group led by Charles Taylor had attacked a mission school housing members of the five-nation peacekeeping force, which arrived in 1990 at the height of the country's civil war. They also attacked a rival militia controlling an important bridge across the Po River, nine miles from Monrovia.
Source: New York Times
Source: New York Times
Wednesday, September 30, 1992
Ousted Haitian Chief, at U.N., Denounces Vatican
The Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the ousted Haitian leader, denounced the Vatican at the United Nations today, calling it the only state in the world to recognize the Government that overthrew him.
In an address to the General Assembly the radical Catholic priest, deposed exactly one year ago after becoming Haiti's first freely elected President, also called for a tighter economic blockade against the Caribbean country, which has one of the lowest standards of living in the world. "What a scandal!" he cried from the speakers rostrum to applause and cries of support from Haitians packing the Assembly hall's public galleries. "Rejected by all the states of the world, these criminals are still recognized by the Vatican, the only state to bless the crimes it should have condemned in the name of the God of Justice and Peace. What would have been the Vatican's attitude if Haiti was inhabited by whites?" he said. "What would have been Pope John Paul II's attitude if Haiti had been Polish?" 'George Bush Must Go!'
Noting that the Pope will be visiting the nearby Dominican Republic next month, Father Aristide expressed doubt that the Pontiff would he also stop in Haiti to make an effort to settle the strife there. As he spoke, a big crowd of mainly Haitian demonstrators, estimated by the police to have reached 10,000 at its peak, rallied outside the United Nations to support the ousted leader, chanting: "No Aristide! No peace!" and "George Bush must go!"
The demonstrators marched peacefully over the Brooklyn Bridge to the United Nations, waving their fists in the air, carrying placards and chanting for peace in Haiti. Some carried coffins drapped with banners saying "Stop racism" and depicting President Bush with a red tongue and horns, reflecting the demonstrators perception that the United States, like most other countries, is loosing interest in Haiti and is no longer pushing vigorously for Father Aristide's return. "I want democracy," said Rosette Elien, a 40-year-old Haitian from Brooklyn. "Bush is not for democracy."
Among the speakers at the demonstration was Jon-Christopher Bua, a spokesman for Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas, who said that if elected the Democratic candidate for President would reverse President Bush's policy and allow fleeing Haitians to apply for political asylum in the United States.
This was Father Aristide's second address to the United Nations, which still recognizes him as Haiti's legitimate head of state. And the applause delegates gave him was still warm and friendly, though the chances of his returning as Haiti's President are smaller now following the collapse of two agreements the Organization of American States thought it had negotiated to allow his return. 'Crime Against Humanity'
The O.A.S. also imposed a trade embargo on Haiti after Father Aristide was overthrown by military units supported by a business class frightened of his radical reformist ideas. But the United States subsequently exempted American-owned companies on the island from many of its provisions to enable them to continue manufacturing and preserve some employment there.
Father Aristide called for that blockade to be tightened further, saying that despite criticism that it would only make Haiti poorer still, "the Haitian people again say yes to the embargo." He called the coup that unseated him "a crime against humanity" and described present-day Haiti as a country where "blood runs, corpses pile up and repression grows greater."
Like last year, Father Aristide's address was a colorful, theatrical affair, in which he vaunted his attachment to the radical liberation theology. While popular among impoverished Roman Catholic classes in Latin America, those views have put him out of favor with the conservative Vatican.
Source: New York Times
In an address to the General Assembly the radical Catholic priest, deposed exactly one year ago after becoming Haiti's first freely elected President, also called for a tighter economic blockade against the Caribbean country, which has one of the lowest standards of living in the world. "What a scandal!" he cried from the speakers rostrum to applause and cries of support from Haitians packing the Assembly hall's public galleries. "Rejected by all the states of the world, these criminals are still recognized by the Vatican, the only state to bless the crimes it should have condemned in the name of the God of Justice and Peace. What would have been the Vatican's attitude if Haiti was inhabited by whites?" he said. "What would have been Pope John Paul II's attitude if Haiti had been Polish?" 'George Bush Must Go!'
Noting that the Pope will be visiting the nearby Dominican Republic next month, Father Aristide expressed doubt that the Pontiff would he also stop in Haiti to make an effort to settle the strife there. As he spoke, a big crowd of mainly Haitian demonstrators, estimated by the police to have reached 10,000 at its peak, rallied outside the United Nations to support the ousted leader, chanting: "No Aristide! No peace!" and "George Bush must go!"
The demonstrators marched peacefully over the Brooklyn Bridge to the United Nations, waving their fists in the air, carrying placards and chanting for peace in Haiti. Some carried coffins drapped with banners saying "Stop racism" and depicting President Bush with a red tongue and horns, reflecting the demonstrators perception that the United States, like most other countries, is loosing interest in Haiti and is no longer pushing vigorously for Father Aristide's return. "I want democracy," said Rosette Elien, a 40-year-old Haitian from Brooklyn. "Bush is not for democracy."
Among the speakers at the demonstration was Jon-Christopher Bua, a spokesman for Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas, who said that if elected the Democratic candidate for President would reverse President Bush's policy and allow fleeing Haitians to apply for political asylum in the United States.
This was Father Aristide's second address to the United Nations, which still recognizes him as Haiti's legitimate head of state. And the applause delegates gave him was still warm and friendly, though the chances of his returning as Haiti's President are smaller now following the collapse of two agreements the Organization of American States thought it had negotiated to allow his return. 'Crime Against Humanity'
The O.A.S. also imposed a trade embargo on Haiti after Father Aristide was overthrown by military units supported by a business class frightened of his radical reformist ideas. But the United States subsequently exempted American-owned companies on the island from many of its provisions to enable them to continue manufacturing and preserve some employment there.
Father Aristide called for that blockade to be tightened further, saying that despite criticism that it would only make Haiti poorer still, "the Haitian people again say yes to the embargo." He called the coup that unseated him "a crime against humanity" and described present-day Haiti as a country where "blood runs, corpses pile up and repression grows greater."
Like last year, Father Aristide's address was a colorful, theatrical affair, in which he vaunted his attachment to the radical liberation theology. While popular among impoverished Roman Catholic classes in Latin America, those views have put him out of favor with the conservative Vatican.
Source: New York Times
Sunday, September 27, 1992
THE WORLD; Aristide Seeks More Than Moral Support
WHEN he confidently strode to the podium of the General Assembly one year ago bearing news of democracy's triumph after nearly two centuries of bloody failures, Haiti's first elected President, the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was the toast of the United Nations. This week, as Haiti's deposed President, overthrown in a military coup no sooner than he had returned home, Father Aristide will stand before the same audience to plead that the world not forget his country's tragedy.
He will surely be greeted with hearty applause, but it is much less certain that he will get anything beyond moral support. Diplomats say there is little chance that anything but the use or serious threat of force can now dislodge a Haitian army that has bloodily secured its hold on the nation while gorging itself on drug money and contraband since the coup last Sept. 30. Such a rescue seems remote. If anything, as time has passed, the world consensus against taking action on Father Aristide's behalf has hardened. For different reasons, likely defenders seem not to want to get involved.
At the United Nations, increasingly stretched by compelling crises from Yugoslavia to Somalia, most diplomats agree there is little chance that the body will take up Father Aristide's expected call to actively work for his return. Nor is the Organization of American States as indignant as it once was. Having announced plans for a 500-member observer mission to Haiti, the O.A.S. is now ploddingly assembling a corps of 18.
As for the United States, since shortly after the overthrow -- when Secretary of State James Baker echoed President Bush's famous "this aggression will not stand" statement about Iraq -- little consideration has been given to backing up American principles in Haiti with American muscle.
Virtually all observers agree that facing down Haiti's ill-equipped and undisciplined 7,000-man army would take little in the way of force. Recently, an adviser of the provisional Government of the army-backed Prime Minister Marc L. Bazin repeated Father Aristide's longtime complaint when he said that "all it would take is one phone call" from Washington to send the army leadership packing. Certainly in Haiti, it is keenly recalled that the United States played a critical behind-the-scenes role in forcing out the last military leader, Col. Prosper Avril, setting the stage for the democratic elections that Father Aristide won in a landslide.
Father Aristide has undoubtedly been frustrated that other nations have found ways to avoid effectively rallying to his cause. Mexico, for example, has invoked deep-seated opposition to American or even multilateral intervention by the O.A.S. in a member country's internal affairs. The European Community has failed to even slow its trade with Haiti.
Indeed, supporters and opponents of Father Aristide agree, nothing more threatening than a leaky and ineffective embargo, quickly imposed on Haiti after the coup, has ever been seriously contemplated, which reflects Washington's deep-seated ambivalence about a leftward-tilting nationalist whose style diplomats say has sometimes been disquietingly erratic. Father Aristide rose to popularity on the wings of his calls for redemption for the hemisphere's poorest and most oppressed people and on stinging speeches that often depicted the United States as a citadel of evil and the root of many of his country's problems. His salutations have long invoked the name of Charlemagne Peralte, a leader of the Haitian resistance to the United States' occupation early in the century, so he himself recognizes the trickiness of calling for stronger American measures.
Despite much blood on the army's hands, United States diplomats consider it a vital counterweight to Father Aristide, whose class-struggle rhetoric during his nearly eight months in office, threatened or antagonized traditional power centers at home and abroad. For months Washington has mixed almost rote-like public statements of the need to restore Haitian democracy with private comments that confess its unwillingness to take on the military. "He wants us to get rid of his enemies for him so that he can have a free hand to mop up, and we're just not going to do that for him," a senior official said in a comment that has been repeatedly echoed in American diplomatic circles.
For Father Aristide there remains only the slim possibility that a new effort at mediation by the former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael N. Manley, who was recently recruited by the O.A.S. for the task, can revive diplomatic efforts to restore him to office. Failing that, Father Aristide's backers can only hope that a people who have so far remained quiescent, will rise up again, as they did in 1986 to cast off the Duvalier family dictatorship, and reclaim the right to choose their leaders. "It is possible that the international community fails to find the instruments to help us and even that our civilian Government fails," said Father Aristide's Ambassador to Washington, Jean Casimir. "But time cannot help these gorillas, and given time, the Haitian people cannot lose."
Source: New York Times
He will surely be greeted with hearty applause, but it is much less certain that he will get anything beyond moral support. Diplomats say there is little chance that anything but the use or serious threat of force can now dislodge a Haitian army that has bloodily secured its hold on the nation while gorging itself on drug money and contraband since the coup last Sept. 30. Such a rescue seems remote. If anything, as time has passed, the world consensus against taking action on Father Aristide's behalf has hardened. For different reasons, likely defenders seem not to want to get involved.
At the United Nations, increasingly stretched by compelling crises from Yugoslavia to Somalia, most diplomats agree there is little chance that the body will take up Father Aristide's expected call to actively work for his return. Nor is the Organization of American States as indignant as it once was. Having announced plans for a 500-member observer mission to Haiti, the O.A.S. is now ploddingly assembling a corps of 18.
As for the United States, since shortly after the overthrow -- when Secretary of State James Baker echoed President Bush's famous "this aggression will not stand" statement about Iraq -- little consideration has been given to backing up American principles in Haiti with American muscle.
Virtually all observers agree that facing down Haiti's ill-equipped and undisciplined 7,000-man army would take little in the way of force. Recently, an adviser of the provisional Government of the army-backed Prime Minister Marc L. Bazin repeated Father Aristide's longtime complaint when he said that "all it would take is one phone call" from Washington to send the army leadership packing. Certainly in Haiti, it is keenly recalled that the United States played a critical behind-the-scenes role in forcing out the last military leader, Col. Prosper Avril, setting the stage for the democratic elections that Father Aristide won in a landslide.
Father Aristide has undoubtedly been frustrated that other nations have found ways to avoid effectively rallying to his cause. Mexico, for example, has invoked deep-seated opposition to American or even multilateral intervention by the O.A.S. in a member country's internal affairs. The European Community has failed to even slow its trade with Haiti.
Indeed, supporters and opponents of Father Aristide agree, nothing more threatening than a leaky and ineffective embargo, quickly imposed on Haiti after the coup, has ever been seriously contemplated, which reflects Washington's deep-seated ambivalence about a leftward-tilting nationalist whose style diplomats say has sometimes been disquietingly erratic. Father Aristide rose to popularity on the wings of his calls for redemption for the hemisphere's poorest and most oppressed people and on stinging speeches that often depicted the United States as a citadel of evil and the root of many of his country's problems. His salutations have long invoked the name of Charlemagne Peralte, a leader of the Haitian resistance to the United States' occupation early in the century, so he himself recognizes the trickiness of calling for stronger American measures.
Despite much blood on the army's hands, United States diplomats consider it a vital counterweight to Father Aristide, whose class-struggle rhetoric during his nearly eight months in office, threatened or antagonized traditional power centers at home and abroad. For months Washington has mixed almost rote-like public statements of the need to restore Haitian democracy with private comments that confess its unwillingness to take on the military. "He wants us to get rid of his enemies for him so that he can have a free hand to mop up, and we're just not going to do that for him," a senior official said in a comment that has been repeatedly echoed in American diplomatic circles.
For Father Aristide there remains only the slim possibility that a new effort at mediation by the former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael N. Manley, who was recently recruited by the O.A.S. for the task, can revive diplomatic efforts to restore him to office. Failing that, Father Aristide's backers can only hope that a people who have so far remained quiescent, will rise up again, as they did in 1986 to cast off the Duvalier family dictatorship, and reclaim the right to choose their leaders. "It is possible that the international community fails to find the instruments to help us and even that our civilian Government fails," said Father Aristide's Ambassador to Washington, Jean Casimir. "But time cannot help these gorillas, and given time, the Haitian people cannot lose."
Source: New York Times
Sunday, September 13, 1992
A Bloody Ambush Jolts South Africa Toward New Talks
THE contest for the future of South Africa seems, even on good days, like a duel of schizophrenics. Both the white Government and the African National Congress are torn by conflicting impulses of civility and confrontation. Last week, on a very bad day at a razor-wire checkpoint near the town of Bisho, each side put forward its belligerent half. The outcome was grimly predictable, and sufficiently chilling that now, mercifully, the conciliatory halves may have their turn.
Within the African National Congress, the divide is between the romantic militancy born of the liberation movement that the congress was during its 30 years of banishment, and the prudent pragmatism of the governing party that the congress hopes to become. These are not simply rival factions but rival instincts that coexist to some degree in many congress leaders.
Last week the Bastille-stormers were personified by Ronnie Kasrils, a thickset, kinetic white Communist who fought in the congress's armed underground in the days when ordinary political avenues were foreclosed. The occasion was the sort of "Leipzig option" mobilization that Mr. Kasrils had long promoted, only to be overruled by the pragmatists. But as frustration mounted in the black townships, the congress's mood had swung toward militancy. Top leaders of the congress endorsed a march aimed at occupying Bisho, the campus-sized capital of the ostensibly independent black homeland called Ciskei, and toppling its military dictator.
As the main column of marchers marked time at the border, Mr. Kasrils was assigned to lead a breakaway group in a flanking maneuver. The group sprinted toward the city center through a gap left -- temptingly, and no doubt deliberately -- in the fence, and straight into an ambush by several hundred machine guns of the Ciskei army.
The white Government of President F. W. de Klerk has its own split personality. There is the Rubicon-crossing, apartheid-disavowing, make-nice Government that craves the world's respect, and that promises majority rule. And there is the Red-baiting, divide-and-rule, make-war Government that shudders at the prospect of rule by the black majority; this is the Government that tolerates (if it does not actually orchestrate) the police torture, vigilante murder and homeland despotism that keep that majority from coalescing.
On Monday, while the make-nice Mr. de Klerk was occupied at a conference on the fine points of federalism in the forthcoming nonracial South Africa, his make-war surrogate at the Bisho border was Brigadier Oupa J. Gqozo, master of Ciskei. Mr. de Klerk supplies the brigadier with guns and comforts and advisers; the brigadier, in turn, does all he can to rattle the African National Congress in a region that has traditionally been its stronghold. When Mr. Kasril's young following charged through that inviting gap in the fence, Brigadier Gqozo's soldiers opened fire with abandon.
In simpler times, the consequences of such a massacre would have been clear-cut: worldwide opprobrium heaped upon Mr. de Klerk, calls from South African white liberals for sanctions against the regime, perhaps a surge of fresh martyrs to the barricades.
But these are more ambiguous times. Although, in fact, little has changed on the ground -- the black majority is still impoverished, separate and disenfranchised -- perceptions have changed profoundly. By disowning the ideology of racial oppression, Mr. de Klerk has persuaded much of the world to judge him in ordinary political terms rather than moral absolutes. By entering the political realm, the African National Congress has conceded that it will no longer be judged solely on the justice of its grand cause; it will be judged on its fitness to govern.
Neither side admits to being even marginally in the wrong at Bisho. Mr. de Klerk, at a press conference Wednesday, never even suggested that firing thousands of rounds without warning into a crowd that is fleeing in panic might constitute excessive force.
Source: New York Times
Within the African National Congress, the divide is between the romantic militancy born of the liberation movement that the congress was during its 30 years of banishment, and the prudent pragmatism of the governing party that the congress hopes to become. These are not simply rival factions but rival instincts that coexist to some degree in many congress leaders.
Last week the Bastille-stormers were personified by Ronnie Kasrils, a thickset, kinetic white Communist who fought in the congress's armed underground in the days when ordinary political avenues were foreclosed. The occasion was the sort of "Leipzig option" mobilization that Mr. Kasrils had long promoted, only to be overruled by the pragmatists. But as frustration mounted in the black townships, the congress's mood had swung toward militancy. Top leaders of the congress endorsed a march aimed at occupying Bisho, the campus-sized capital of the ostensibly independent black homeland called Ciskei, and toppling its military dictator.
As the main column of marchers marked time at the border, Mr. Kasrils was assigned to lead a breakaway group in a flanking maneuver. The group sprinted toward the city center through a gap left -- temptingly, and no doubt deliberately -- in the fence, and straight into an ambush by several hundred machine guns of the Ciskei army.
The white Government of President F. W. de Klerk has its own split personality. There is the Rubicon-crossing, apartheid-disavowing, make-nice Government that craves the world's respect, and that promises majority rule. And there is the Red-baiting, divide-and-rule, make-war Government that shudders at the prospect of rule by the black majority; this is the Government that tolerates (if it does not actually orchestrate) the police torture, vigilante murder and homeland despotism that keep that majority from coalescing.
On Monday, while the make-nice Mr. de Klerk was occupied at a conference on the fine points of federalism in the forthcoming nonracial South Africa, his make-war surrogate at the Bisho border was Brigadier Oupa J. Gqozo, master of Ciskei. Mr. de Klerk supplies the brigadier with guns and comforts and advisers; the brigadier, in turn, does all he can to rattle the African National Congress in a region that has traditionally been its stronghold. When Mr. Kasril's young following charged through that inviting gap in the fence, Brigadier Gqozo's soldiers opened fire with abandon.
In simpler times, the consequences of such a massacre would have been clear-cut: worldwide opprobrium heaped upon Mr. de Klerk, calls from South African white liberals for sanctions against the regime, perhaps a surge of fresh martyrs to the barricades.
But these are more ambiguous times. Although, in fact, little has changed on the ground -- the black majority is still impoverished, separate and disenfranchised -- perceptions have changed profoundly. By disowning the ideology of racial oppression, Mr. de Klerk has persuaded much of the world to judge him in ordinary political terms rather than moral absolutes. By entering the political realm, the African National Congress has conceded that it will no longer be judged solely on the justice of its grand cause; it will be judged on its fitness to govern.
Neither side admits to being even marginally in the wrong at Bisho. Mr. de Klerk, at a press conference Wednesday, never even suggested that firing thousands of rounds without warning into a crowd that is fleeing in panic might constitute excessive force.
Source: New York Times
Monday, September 7, 1992
The Bhisho Massacre: the day 29 people died
Bhisho, the administrative capital of the Eastern Cape, was once the capital of the Ciskei, a so-called homeland of South Africa. It gave its name to a massacre that happened there on September 7 1992 when Ciskei strongman Oupa Gqozo's troops opened fire on an ANC march heading into the capital. Twenty-eight protesters and one soldier died. Hundreds of others were injured.
At that time, negotiations for South Africa's non-racial constitution had broken down amid accusations that the ruling National Party was fomenting "third force" violence in black townships. Another stumbling block was the refusal of Gqozo to participate in negotiations and undertake to give up the homeland's "independence". The meeting at the stadium in Bhisho was organised by the ANC to protest this, to demand free political activity and an end to state violence and repression in the Ciskei.
About 80 000 people - including Chris Hani, Cyril Ramaphosa, Steve Tshwete and Harry Gwala - marched from King William's Town to Bhisho, chanting "no more slavery".
Disastrous miscalculation
Determined to peacefully occupy Bhisho and force Gqozo's resignation, Ronnie Kasrils, a stalwart of ANC protests, led a section of the marchers through a gap in the razor wire erected to contain them. In his autobiography Armed and Dangerous: My Undercover Struggle with Apartheid, Kasrils writes: "By not charging in their [soldiers] direction, by giving them a wide berth, we would avoid confrontation." The organisers and the demonstrators believed that with the eyes of the world on them, Gqozo's troops would not dare open fire.
But this was a disastrous miscalculation. Ciskei troops opened fire, ostensibly on the orders of Gqozo.
Recounting it later, Kasrils writes: "One moment I was running, my comrades with me. The next instant, without warning, the soldiers opened fire." Kasrils hit the ground, but bullets cut into the crowd following him. Petros Vantyu, his bodyguard, was one of those hit by the gunfire. "As I began to crawl towards him, the gunfire broke out again, as angry and prolonged as before, and I froze where I lay. The sinister whirr of projectiles overhead, followed by four dull thuds, made me realise with horror that they were firing grenades as well."
Deadlock breaker
An official investigation revealed that the first fusillade lasted one-and-a-half minutes, while the second lasted a minute. More than 425 rounds were fired. At the end, bodies lay scattered in pools of blood along the line of razor wire erected to contain the marchers.
Gqozo denied giving the order to fire. He accused ANC demonstrators of opening fire first, killing a soldier. He said his troops had acted with restraint. Then-president FW de Klerk said at the time that the massacre resulted from the ANC's failure to observe march conditions agreed with Ciskei authorities. "I did not start mass action, the ANC did. It is a fallacy, an unsubstantiated lie, that my government was involved," he said.
But Nelson Mandela differed with him. "The creation of a climate for free political activity, including in the homelands, is an important condition for us to return to the negotiating table. An enormous responsibility rests with the South African government to create that climate."
In the end, massacres in Bhisho and Boipatong, where 49 people were killed, acted as deadlock-breaking mechanisms. Key players in the negotiation process were forced to rethink their strategies and options. The spiral of violence gave way to the reopening of talks and South Africa once again resumed its journey towards democracy and freedom, which culminated in the country's first democratic elections in 1994.
Source: Buffalo City Metro
At that time, negotiations for South Africa's non-racial constitution had broken down amid accusations that the ruling National Party was fomenting "third force" violence in black townships. Another stumbling block was the refusal of Gqozo to participate in negotiations and undertake to give up the homeland's "independence". The meeting at the stadium in Bhisho was organised by the ANC to protest this, to demand free political activity and an end to state violence and repression in the Ciskei.
About 80 000 people - including Chris Hani, Cyril Ramaphosa, Steve Tshwete and Harry Gwala - marched from King William's Town to Bhisho, chanting "no more slavery".
Disastrous miscalculation
Determined to peacefully occupy Bhisho and force Gqozo's resignation, Ronnie Kasrils, a stalwart of ANC protests, led a section of the marchers through a gap in the razor wire erected to contain them. In his autobiography Armed and Dangerous: My Undercover Struggle with Apartheid, Kasrils writes: "By not charging in their [soldiers] direction, by giving them a wide berth, we would avoid confrontation." The organisers and the demonstrators believed that with the eyes of the world on them, Gqozo's troops would not dare open fire.
But this was a disastrous miscalculation. Ciskei troops opened fire, ostensibly on the orders of Gqozo.
Recounting it later, Kasrils writes: "One moment I was running, my comrades with me. The next instant, without warning, the soldiers opened fire." Kasrils hit the ground, but bullets cut into the crowd following him. Petros Vantyu, his bodyguard, was one of those hit by the gunfire. "As I began to crawl towards him, the gunfire broke out again, as angry and prolonged as before, and I froze where I lay. The sinister whirr of projectiles overhead, followed by four dull thuds, made me realise with horror that they were firing grenades as well."
Deadlock breaker
An official investigation revealed that the first fusillade lasted one-and-a-half minutes, while the second lasted a minute. More than 425 rounds were fired. At the end, bodies lay scattered in pools of blood along the line of razor wire erected to contain the marchers.
Gqozo denied giving the order to fire. He accused ANC demonstrators of opening fire first, killing a soldier. He said his troops had acted with restraint. Then-president FW de Klerk said at the time that the massacre resulted from the ANC's failure to observe march conditions agreed with Ciskei authorities. "I did not start mass action, the ANC did. It is a fallacy, an unsubstantiated lie, that my government was involved," he said.
But Nelson Mandela differed with him. "The creation of a climate for free political activity, including in the homelands, is an important condition for us to return to the negotiating table. An enormous responsibility rests with the South African government to create that climate."
In the end, massacres in Bhisho and Boipatong, where 49 people were killed, acted as deadlock-breaking mechanisms. Key players in the negotiation process were forced to rethink their strategies and options. The spiral of violence gave way to the reopening of talks and South Africa once again resumed its journey towards democracy and freedom, which culminated in the country's first democratic elections in 1994.
Source: Buffalo City Metro
Saturday, August 8, 1992
U.N. Chief Asks Council to Send 30 More Observers to South Africa
Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali recommended to the Security Council today that 30 United Nations observers be sent to South Africa to help existing groups in defusing violence and creating conditions for further negotiations toward "a democratic, nonracial and united" country. He also recommended the creation of undetermined number of operation centers at the major "flashpoints" around South Africa where violence is most likely to occur. The Secretary General said "there is desperate need" for these centers, staffed 24 hours a day and capable at all times of "acting immediately to defuse incipient problems."
The report also urged the immediate release of all political prisoners. This could contribute to "improving the political climate, creating trust and burying the unhappy past," Mr. Boutros-Ghali said. The Secretary General's report was based on the findings of his special envoy, Cyrus R. Vance, who with a small team of specialists from the United Nations Secretariat visited South Africa from July 21 to 31. Mr. Vance's trip was authorized by the Security Council, which had expressed its concern at the break in the negotiations between the white minority Government of South Africa and the African National Congress over a new nonracial constitution.
The new report took note of what the Secretary General called the longstanding capacity for violence by the various political groups in South Africa, he called for "a series of investigations" into the army, the police, Spear of the Nation, the Azanian People's Army, the KwaZulu police and certain private "security firms" and others that, he said, contribute to the violence that "is so central to the lack of trust in the political life of the country." Such investigations, the Secretary General said, would be undertaken by the Commission of Inquiry into Public Violence and Intimidation headed by Justice Richard Goldstone. "Should the Commission need further financing for its expanded work," the Secretary General said, "I would urge the Government to be forthcoming."
Mr. Boutros-Ghali disclosed that he sent seven observers to South Africa last week after Nelson Mandela, the head of the African National Congress, requested them to witness the demonstrations connected with the work stoppage called by the congress. President F. W. de Klerk made it clear that he had no objection to objective observers, Mr. Boutros-Ghali said, and on arriving, they observed the mass action in 11 different parts of the country. The seven joined three United Nations observers already in South Africa.
The Secretary General said the experiences of the 10 observers monitoring last week's demonstrations "could serve a valuable purpose in defining the tasks" of the 30 additional observers he is recommending. He said missions similar to that carried out by Mr. Vance should be "undertaken on a quarterly basis" or more often if the situation warrants, with reports provided to the Security Council.
Source: New York Times
The report also urged the immediate release of all political prisoners. This could contribute to "improving the political climate, creating trust and burying the unhappy past," Mr. Boutros-Ghali said. The Secretary General's report was based on the findings of his special envoy, Cyrus R. Vance, who with a small team of specialists from the United Nations Secretariat visited South Africa from July 21 to 31. Mr. Vance's trip was authorized by the Security Council, which had expressed its concern at the break in the negotiations between the white minority Government of South Africa and the African National Congress over a new nonracial constitution.
The new report took note of what the Secretary General called the longstanding capacity for violence by the various political groups in South Africa, he called for "a series of investigations" into the army, the police, Spear of the Nation, the Azanian People's Army, the KwaZulu police and certain private "security firms" and others that, he said, contribute to the violence that "is so central to the lack of trust in the political life of the country." Such investigations, the Secretary General said, would be undertaken by the Commission of Inquiry into Public Violence and Intimidation headed by Justice Richard Goldstone. "Should the Commission need further financing for its expanded work," the Secretary General said, "I would urge the Government to be forthcoming."
Mr. Boutros-Ghali disclosed that he sent seven observers to South Africa last week after Nelson Mandela, the head of the African National Congress, requested them to witness the demonstrations connected with the work stoppage called by the congress. President F. W. de Klerk made it clear that he had no objection to objective observers, Mr. Boutros-Ghali said, and on arriving, they observed the mass action in 11 different parts of the country. The seven joined three United Nations observers already in South Africa.
The Secretary General said the experiences of the 10 observers monitoring last week's demonstrations "could serve a valuable purpose in defining the tasks" of the 30 additional observers he is recommending. He said missions similar to that carried out by Mr. Vance should be "undertaken on a quarterly basis" or more often if the situation warrants, with reports provided to the Security Council.
Source: New York Times
Wednesday, June 17, 1992
Boipatong massacre
The Boipatong massacre took place on the night of 17 June 1992 in the township of Boipatong, South Africa.
Armed hostel inmates shoot and hack their way through the Black township of Boipatong, leaving forty-six people dead and scores injured, including women and children. The ANC withdraws from Codesa negotiations.
Source: SA History Online
Armed hostel inmates shoot and hack their way through the Black township of Boipatong, leaving forty-six people dead and scores injured, including women and children. The ANC withdraws from Codesa negotiations.
Source: SA History Online
Sunday, June 7, 1992
Meetings With Aristide Emphasize Human Rights
Amid reports of discussions of a new hemispheric initiative for resolving the Haitian political standoff, American human rights experts have begun meetings with Haiti's deposed President, the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to discuss weaknesses in his human rights record and help devise plans to smooth his eventual return.
Participants said the meetings have involved detailed discussions of what Father Aristide's critics call human rights abuses during his nearly eight-month tenure in office, as well as talks about internationally brokered peace plans in other badly torn countries like El Salvador, which the human rights experts said could provide useful models for Haiti.
American diplomats have said that Father Aristide's insistence that Lieut. Gen. Raoul Cedras, Haiti's military commander, be either immediately imprisoned or exiled for having presided over the coup against him has been an obstacle to international diplomatic efforts to secure the exiled President's return.
The human rights experts, from private groups, said they hoped to persuade Father Aristide of the wisdom of deferring the question of General Cedras's fate, while allowing international monitoring to help assure order in the country and provide for his own security. Under such a plan, the question of punishment for soldiers who overthrew Father Aristide last September, as well as those involved in abuses since then, would be handled by an independent monitoring agency to be established under international supervision.
Although they described the discussions as useful, participants said that Father Aristide refused to say that there had been any specific human rights problems during his tenure or to endorse a gradual approach to restoring him to power that would defer the question of punishment for the army leadership.
Neither Father Aristide nor his Ambassador to Washington, Jean Casimir, responded to requests for comment. But participants in the discussions said Father Aristide complained that by seeking a solution that did not involve the immediate removal of General Cedras, Washington was trying to "stick me with a Pinochet," a reference to Chile's former military dictator, Gen. Augusto Pinochet. General Pinochet, who has stayed on as armed forces chief, has a tense relationship with the civilian Government of President Patricio Aylwin.
The meeting's participants said that Father Aristide wondered aloud whether he could avoid being assassinated under such a plan. "It was an interesting exchange of views, but we didn't come to any understanding ultimately," said Kenneth Roth, deputy director of Human Rights Watch, the New York-based rights organization. "He didn't relinquish the demand for the immediate punishment of some individuals in the army, and that insistence, rather than allowing an independent process to take place gradually, perpetuates a stalemate."
Participants in the meetings also expressed frustration with what they described as Father Aristide's failure to address widespread assertions that his statements as President had repeatedly seemed to condone mob-style violence. Human rights experts said that Father Aristide gave little ground beyond the general pledges he has made in the past to reject popular violence.
Another participant cited a speech by Father Aristide to Haitian students in which he praised the presence of a mob armed with gasoline and tires -- which are often used in the vigilante justice Father Aristide's critics have suggested he condoned -- outside a courthouse where a notorious former Interior Minister was on trial.
A senior American official, speaking of what he called Father Aristide's lack of candor on human rights questions, said, "It is a very serious problem, and I don't know what to do about it."
Another official, saying that many people in Haiti already have "little confidence in what he says," called on Father Aristide to issue some "good, stiff declarations about popular justice and some direct acknowledgement that he had some responsibility for certain things that went wrong."
Source: New York Times
Participants said the meetings have involved detailed discussions of what Father Aristide's critics call human rights abuses during his nearly eight-month tenure in office, as well as talks about internationally brokered peace plans in other badly torn countries like El Salvador, which the human rights experts said could provide useful models for Haiti.
American diplomats have said that Father Aristide's insistence that Lieut. Gen. Raoul Cedras, Haiti's military commander, be either immediately imprisoned or exiled for having presided over the coup against him has been an obstacle to international diplomatic efforts to secure the exiled President's return.
The human rights experts, from private groups, said they hoped to persuade Father Aristide of the wisdom of deferring the question of General Cedras's fate, while allowing international monitoring to help assure order in the country and provide for his own security. Under such a plan, the question of punishment for soldiers who overthrew Father Aristide last September, as well as those involved in abuses since then, would be handled by an independent monitoring agency to be established under international supervision.
Although they described the discussions as useful, participants said that Father Aristide refused to say that there had been any specific human rights problems during his tenure or to endorse a gradual approach to restoring him to power that would defer the question of punishment for the army leadership.
Neither Father Aristide nor his Ambassador to Washington, Jean Casimir, responded to requests for comment. But participants in the discussions said Father Aristide complained that by seeking a solution that did not involve the immediate removal of General Cedras, Washington was trying to "stick me with a Pinochet," a reference to Chile's former military dictator, Gen. Augusto Pinochet. General Pinochet, who has stayed on as armed forces chief, has a tense relationship with the civilian Government of President Patricio Aylwin.
The meeting's participants said that Father Aristide wondered aloud whether he could avoid being assassinated under such a plan. "It was an interesting exchange of views, but we didn't come to any understanding ultimately," said Kenneth Roth, deputy director of Human Rights Watch, the New York-based rights organization. "He didn't relinquish the demand for the immediate punishment of some individuals in the army, and that insistence, rather than allowing an independent process to take place gradually, perpetuates a stalemate."
Participants in the meetings also expressed frustration with what they described as Father Aristide's failure to address widespread assertions that his statements as President had repeatedly seemed to condone mob-style violence. Human rights experts said that Father Aristide gave little ground beyond the general pledges he has made in the past to reject popular violence.
Another participant cited a speech by Father Aristide to Haitian students in which he praised the presence of a mob armed with gasoline and tires -- which are often used in the vigilante justice Father Aristide's critics have suggested he condoned -- outside a courthouse where a notorious former Interior Minister was on trial.
A senior American official, speaking of what he called Father Aristide's lack of candor on human rights questions, said, "It is a very serious problem, and I don't know what to do about it."
Another official, saying that many people in Haiti already have "little confidence in what he says," called on Father Aristide to issue some "good, stiff declarations about popular justice and some direct acknowledgement that he had some responsibility for certain things that went wrong."
Source: New York Times
Saturday, May 16, 1992
South Africa Talks in Deadlock; De Klerk Confers With Mandela
Negotiations on South Africa's future deadlocked today, prompting President F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, president of the African National Congress, to meet to try to devise a solution. After the two leaders met with their advisers and then for more than an hour with each other, Mr. Mandela said they would report the outcome on Saturday. He described their meeting as "substantial," the South Africa Press Association reported, but did not say what they had decided. A resolution of the impasse would pave the way for the creation of a transitional government that would draft a new constitution extending political equality to blacks.
The cause of the deadlock was the inability of one of five working groups created by the Convention for a Democratic South Africa, as the negotiating forum is called, to agree on one of the proposed guidelines for a new constitution. The disputed point is the size of the legislative margin of approval for constitutional provisions covering regional issues. The dispute, which erupted in invective between the Government and the congress, blocked the presentation of progress reports by the four other working groups on the country's future. But Mr. Mandela told journalists that it would be naive for anybody to think that there would be no deadlocks in the negotiations. "While there is a will to address problems, there is hope those problems will be solved," said Mr. Mandela, who sounded noticeably more relaxed than his subordinates did earlier today. "We are confident that in the weeks or months that lie ahead we will be able to make good progress," Mr. Mandela said before meeting with Mr. de Klerk.
The convention, which opened last December in a mood of enthusiasm, created the working groups to consider aspects of the transition and submit their plans to the current meeting. But as the second full session of the convention confronted real issues today, the good will soured. The Government and the congress accused each other of derailing the talks, and some smaller parties took sides, splitting the convention nearly down the middle. "The Government continues to lack the will to negotiate seriously," charged Chris Hani, the head of the South African Communist Party, a congress ally. Foreign Minister Roelof F. Botha railed against what he called the "A.N.C.-Communist-Marxist school of belief" that "a winner takes all and grabs the power." Cyril Ramaphosa, the secretary general of the African National Congress, said at a news conference that he saw very little chance that agreement would be reached on the convention floor. "We have become convinced that the South African Government didn't come to today's working group meeting with the clear intent of signing an agreement," Mr. Ramaphosa said.
The Government delegation said the failure to agree on one point should not obscure what its negotiator Tertius Delport called "substantial and very important progress" on other fronts. The Government side proposed that the convention consider the reports of the other working groups, leaving the unresolved issue for discussion later. Mr. Delport cautioned against haste. "We're not dealing with the question at which time the Sunday school will start," he said. "We're dealing with the future of our country." But Mr. Ramaphosa rejected a piecemeal approach and said the entire package must be considered. He and other congress officials accused the Government of trying to postpone the eventuality of majority rule. "We do not want to be caught in a position where the transition goes on forever," said Mohammed Valli Moosa, a negotiator for the congress.
The disagreement involved the margin of approval that would be needed for constitutional provisions dealing specifically with regional issues. The African National Congress says it should be 70 percent of the votes in a elected constitution-making legislature; the Government has held out for 75 percent. These two key participants reached virtual consensus on other proposed guidelines, but the 5 percent gap has stalled unrelated issues that were scheduled for discussion and approval at the negotiations. Their inability to close the modest 5 percent difference reflected in part their exasperation after hours of negotiations, and also their unwillingness to appear to their constituencies to be giving too much ground. The regional issue is a delicate one. The governing National Party and some of the other 18 political parties and organizations in the talks believe that the interests of minorities, including whites, can be better protected if power is decentralized down to the regional level, even though whites do not form the majority in any region.
The National Party also wants the new Parliament to have a second chamber, called a Senate, whose members would be elected regionally rather than nationally. The African National Congress and the Government had already compromised on the margin by which a constitution-making body should enact legislation. The congress initially proposed a two-thirds majority, while the Government wanted 75 percent. They agreed upon 70 percent for most constitutional provisions and 75 percent for the bill of rights, but differed over the regional issues. Each side also introduced further conditions. The Government said its proposed Senate should have equal authority in approving the constitution, giving it a potential veto over what the first chamber drafted.
And the African National Congress said that if the constitution-making body could not pass its provisions by a sufficient majority, after six months the unresolved issues should be put to a public referendum. The congress and the Government have agreed that the transition take place in two stages, with an appointed executive council supervising the government during the initial stage. They also agreed that an interim legislature elected by universal franchise should draft the new constitution.
Source: New York Times
The cause of the deadlock was the inability of one of five working groups created by the Convention for a Democratic South Africa, as the negotiating forum is called, to agree on one of the proposed guidelines for a new constitution. The disputed point is the size of the legislative margin of approval for constitutional provisions covering regional issues. The dispute, which erupted in invective between the Government and the congress, blocked the presentation of progress reports by the four other working groups on the country's future. But Mr. Mandela told journalists that it would be naive for anybody to think that there would be no deadlocks in the negotiations. "While there is a will to address problems, there is hope those problems will be solved," said Mr. Mandela, who sounded noticeably more relaxed than his subordinates did earlier today. "We are confident that in the weeks or months that lie ahead we will be able to make good progress," Mr. Mandela said before meeting with Mr. de Klerk.
The convention, which opened last December in a mood of enthusiasm, created the working groups to consider aspects of the transition and submit their plans to the current meeting. But as the second full session of the convention confronted real issues today, the good will soured. The Government and the congress accused each other of derailing the talks, and some smaller parties took sides, splitting the convention nearly down the middle. "The Government continues to lack the will to negotiate seriously," charged Chris Hani, the head of the South African Communist Party, a congress ally. Foreign Minister Roelof F. Botha railed against what he called the "A.N.C.-Communist-Marxist school of belief" that "a winner takes all and grabs the power." Cyril Ramaphosa, the secretary general of the African National Congress, said at a news conference that he saw very little chance that agreement would be reached on the convention floor. "We have become convinced that the South African Government didn't come to today's working group meeting with the clear intent of signing an agreement," Mr. Ramaphosa said.
The Government delegation said the failure to agree on one point should not obscure what its negotiator Tertius Delport called "substantial and very important progress" on other fronts. The Government side proposed that the convention consider the reports of the other working groups, leaving the unresolved issue for discussion later. Mr. Delport cautioned against haste. "We're not dealing with the question at which time the Sunday school will start," he said. "We're dealing with the future of our country." But Mr. Ramaphosa rejected a piecemeal approach and said the entire package must be considered. He and other congress officials accused the Government of trying to postpone the eventuality of majority rule. "We do not want to be caught in a position where the transition goes on forever," said Mohammed Valli Moosa, a negotiator for the congress.
The disagreement involved the margin of approval that would be needed for constitutional provisions dealing specifically with regional issues. The African National Congress says it should be 70 percent of the votes in a elected constitution-making legislature; the Government has held out for 75 percent. These two key participants reached virtual consensus on other proposed guidelines, but the 5 percent gap has stalled unrelated issues that were scheduled for discussion and approval at the negotiations. Their inability to close the modest 5 percent difference reflected in part their exasperation after hours of negotiations, and also their unwillingness to appear to their constituencies to be giving too much ground. The regional issue is a delicate one. The governing National Party and some of the other 18 political parties and organizations in the talks believe that the interests of minorities, including whites, can be better protected if power is decentralized down to the regional level, even though whites do not form the majority in any region.
The National Party also wants the new Parliament to have a second chamber, called a Senate, whose members would be elected regionally rather than nationally. The African National Congress and the Government had already compromised on the margin by which a constitution-making body should enact legislation. The congress initially proposed a two-thirds majority, while the Government wanted 75 percent. They agreed upon 70 percent for most constitutional provisions and 75 percent for the bill of rights, but differed over the regional issues. Each side also introduced further conditions. The Government said its proposed Senate should have equal authority in approving the constitution, giving it a potential veto over what the first chamber drafted.
And the African National Congress said that if the constitution-making body could not pass its provisions by a sufficient majority, after six months the unresolved issues should be put to a public referendum. The congress and the Government have agreed that the transition take place in two stages, with an appointed executive council supervising the government during the initial stage. They also agreed that an interim legislature elected by universal franchise should draft the new constitution.
Source: New York Times
Sunday, May 3, 1992
300 Americans Evacuated After Coup in Sierra Leone
American military planes evacuated more than 300 Americans to Germany today in the aftermath of a military coup in this West African nation.
Most of the 270 Americans flown to the Rhein military airbase in Frankfurt in an initial flight were staff members from the United States Embassy, and the spouses and children of diplomats, according to a senior diplomat at the mission who insisted on not being identified.
A second plane with 57 people aboard carried United States Government workers, their families and a missionary group, said Col. Ron Maples, a spokesman for the United States European Command.
Source: New York Times
Most of the 270 Americans flown to the Rhein military airbase in Frankfurt in an initial flight were staff members from the United States Embassy, and the spouses and children of diplomats, according to a senior diplomat at the mission who insisted on not being identified.
A second plane with 57 people aboard carried United States Government workers, their families and a missionary group, said Col. Ron Maples, a spokesman for the United States European Command.
Source: New York Times
New Junta in Sierra Leone Replaces Leader
Military officers who toppled the President of this West African nation arrested their leader today and replaced him with the junta's second-in-command, officials said. The informants, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the 22-member ruling council arrested Lieut. Col. Yayah Kanu and replaced him with Capt. Valentine Strasser.
Several Cabinet ministers and party officials who had served under President Joseph Momoh were also reported arrested, and the state radio said the junta had ordered officials of the deposed Government to surrender or face serious consequences.
Middle-ranking officers who led the coup on Wednesday said they had not been paid for three months and had nothing to eat while fighting rebels near the border.
Source: New York Times
Several Cabinet ministers and party officials who had served under President Joseph Momoh were also reported arrested, and the state radio said the junta had ordered officials of the deposed Government to surrender or face serious consequences.
Middle-ranking officers who led the coup on Wednesday said they had not been paid for three months and had nothing to eat while fighting rebels near the border.
Source: New York Times
Tuesday, April 28, 1992
'Fight With Us' Against Military, Ousted Haitian Urges Americans
Raising a fist in salute to more than 2,500 cheering Haitian students at Brooklyn College, the deposed President of Haiti, the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, extolled his faith in the youth of his country yesterday and said he was certain that they would "rally the resistance so that Haiti will become a democratic country once again."
Then, addressing Americans, Father Aristide, whose Government was toppled by the Haitian military last September, said, "We need you to fight with us in the same way we saw Americans fight in Nicaragua." Earlier, in remarks to 200 members of the Baptist Ministers' Conference of Greater New York and Vicinity at the Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem, Father Aristide reportedly called for a stepped-up embargo of Haiti and said he believed that Washington should take stronger action to force the Haitian military to give up its hold on political power. "He said they have given beautiful statements," said the Rev. V. Simpson Turner, the president of the ministers' conference, referring to the support voiced so far by Washington officials. "But he said what's needed is action." Any Criticism Is Muted.
In a telephone interview yesterday, though, Father Aristide had no criticism of the Bush Administration. He did not believe, he said, that United States or other foreign troops should be sent to Haiti, as some supporters in New York have suggested during his visit here. He said he believed that the Administration was doing everything it could and that he was "sure they will see the result of what they are doing."
The United States cut aid to Haiti and imposed an economic embargo shortly after the Sept. 30 coup. Administration officials said last week that they were considering further steps against the military Government, including tightening the embargo. On May 18, the Foreign Ministers of the Organization of American States are to meet in the Bahamas, with Haiti the most urgent matter on their agenda.
After four days of meetings in New York that went for the first time far beyond talks with Haitian-Americans, Father Aristide is to spend today seeing journalists and members of his government in exile before leaving for Boston on Wednesday. He came to New York from Washington on a visit of several weeks that journalists and diplomats who follow Caribbean affairs say was partly an effort to insure that the issue of Haiti's political turmoil remains in the public eye. Suggests Internal U.S. Pressure
Mr. Turner said Father Aristide urged the Baptist ministers to "pressure our Congressmen" and city officials so they would insist that the Bush Administration not relax and begin to accommodate the Haitian military.
Father Aristide began his New York visit with a breakfast Friday with business and labor leaders, then went to City Hall to talk with Mayor David N. Dinkins and members of the City Council. On Saturday, he drove to a resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania to address a regional meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists and that evening attended a $150-a-plate dinner in Queens that was organized to pay for the visit. On Sunday, Father Ariside spoke privately with Gov. Mario M. Cuomo and then strode onto a stage in Central Park, where he was cheered by tens of thousands of Haitian exiles.
Speaking of Mr. Cuomo, Mayor Dinkins and of Representative Charles B. Rangel, a Democrat who represents Harlem, Father Aristide said: "Those people are so good by the way they welcome us here. We are proud to be their friends."
Fritz Longchamp, who speaks for Father Aristide's exile government at the United Nations, was at the ousted President's side yesterday. He said the Haitian leader had sought a broader audience on his visit because "there is a sense of urgency in Haiti. "He wants to go back to Haiti with the full support not only of the U.S. Government," Mr. Longchamp said, "but of the American people."
Source: New York Times
Then, addressing Americans, Father Aristide, whose Government was toppled by the Haitian military last September, said, "We need you to fight with us in the same way we saw Americans fight in Nicaragua." Earlier, in remarks to 200 members of the Baptist Ministers' Conference of Greater New York and Vicinity at the Convent Avenue Baptist Church in Harlem, Father Aristide reportedly called for a stepped-up embargo of Haiti and said he believed that Washington should take stronger action to force the Haitian military to give up its hold on political power. "He said they have given beautiful statements," said the Rev. V. Simpson Turner, the president of the ministers' conference, referring to the support voiced so far by Washington officials. "But he said what's needed is action." Any Criticism Is Muted.
In a telephone interview yesterday, though, Father Aristide had no criticism of the Bush Administration. He did not believe, he said, that United States or other foreign troops should be sent to Haiti, as some supporters in New York have suggested during his visit here. He said he believed that the Administration was doing everything it could and that he was "sure they will see the result of what they are doing."
The United States cut aid to Haiti and imposed an economic embargo shortly after the Sept. 30 coup. Administration officials said last week that they were considering further steps against the military Government, including tightening the embargo. On May 18, the Foreign Ministers of the Organization of American States are to meet in the Bahamas, with Haiti the most urgent matter on their agenda.
After four days of meetings in New York that went for the first time far beyond talks with Haitian-Americans, Father Aristide is to spend today seeing journalists and members of his government in exile before leaving for Boston on Wednesday. He came to New York from Washington on a visit of several weeks that journalists and diplomats who follow Caribbean affairs say was partly an effort to insure that the issue of Haiti's political turmoil remains in the public eye. Suggests Internal U.S. Pressure
Mr. Turner said Father Aristide urged the Baptist ministers to "pressure our Congressmen" and city officials so they would insist that the Bush Administration not relax and begin to accommodate the Haitian military.
Father Aristide began his New York visit with a breakfast Friday with business and labor leaders, then went to City Hall to talk with Mayor David N. Dinkins and members of the City Council. On Saturday, he drove to a resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania to address a regional meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists and that evening attended a $150-a-plate dinner in Queens that was organized to pay for the visit. On Sunday, Father Ariside spoke privately with Gov. Mario M. Cuomo and then strode onto a stage in Central Park, where he was cheered by tens of thousands of Haitian exiles.
Speaking of Mr. Cuomo, Mayor Dinkins and of Representative Charles B. Rangel, a Democrat who represents Harlem, Father Aristide said: "Those people are so good by the way they welcome us here. We are proud to be their friends."
Fritz Longchamp, who speaks for Father Aristide's exile government at the United Nations, was at the ousted President's side yesterday. He said the Haitian leader had sought a broader audience on his visit because "there is a sense of urgency in Haiti. "He wants to go back to Haiti with the full support not only of the U.S. Government," Mr. Longchamp said, "but of the American people."
Source: New York Times
Tuesday, April 7, 1992
Ivory Coast and South Africa To Establish Diplomatic Ties
Ivory Coast and South Africa said today that they were establishing full diplomatic ties. Ivory Coast is the first black-ruled African nation to accord Pretoria full diplomatic recognition since President F. W. de Klerk began scrapping apartheid laws two years ago.
Communication Minister Auguste Miremont said Ivory Coast's decision was in response to Mr. de Klerk's moves, which won the backing of the white electorate in a referendum last month.
Source: new York Times
Communication Minister Auguste Miremont said Ivory Coast's decision was in response to Mr. de Klerk's moves, which won the backing of the white electorate in a referendum last month.
Source: new York Times
Monday, March 30, 1992
Sonap Petroleum (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd v Pappadogianis (483/90) [1992] ZASCA 56; 1992 (3) SA 234 (AD); [1992] 2 All SA 114 (A) (30 March 1992)
The decisive question in this case is: did the party whose actual intention did not conform to the common intention expressed, lead the other party, as a reasonable man, to believe that his declared intention represented his actual intention?
To answer this question, a three-fold enquiry is usually necessary, namely, first, was there a misrepresentation as to one party's intention; secondly, who made that representation, and thirdly, was the other party misled thereby? The last question postulates two possibilities: was he actually misled and would a reasonable man have been misled?
In the present case the appellant represented to the respondent that its intention was to reduce the period of the lease. One has then to determine whether the misrepresentation had any effect, i e whether the respondent was misled thereby. If he realised (or should have realised as a reasonable man) that there was a real possibility of a mistake in the offer, he would have had a duty to speak and to enquire whether the expressed offer was the intended offer. Only thereafter could he accept. The snapping up of a bargain in the knowledge of such a possibility of a mistake in the offer would not be bona fide.
Whether there is a duty to speak will obviously depend on the facts of each case.
Source: SAFLII
To answer this question, a three-fold enquiry is usually necessary, namely, first, was there a misrepresentation as to one party's intention; secondly, who made that representation, and thirdly, was the other party misled thereby? The last question postulates two possibilities: was he actually misled and would a reasonable man have been misled?
In the present case the appellant represented to the respondent that its intention was to reduce the period of the lease. One has then to determine whether the misrepresentation had any effect, i e whether the respondent was misled thereby. If he realised (or should have realised as a reasonable man) that there was a real possibility of a mistake in the offer, he would have had a duty to speak and to enquire whether the expressed offer was the intended offer. Only thereafter could he accept. The snapping up of a bargain in the knowledge of such a possibility of a mistake in the offer would not be bona fide.
Whether there is a duty to speak will obviously depend on the facts of each case.
Source: SAFLII
Friday, March 20, 1992
A Mandate For Change
Despite the overwhelming mandate that whites gave President F. W. de Klerk to end their monopoly on political power, South Africa has a distance to travel before blacks inherit the vote and other basic rights flowing from it.
The ringing approval of 68.7 percent of the whites who voted in Tuesday's referendum left little doubt that Mr. de Klerk has their support to negotiate power sharing with blacks.
"The referendum result is close to being unique in the annals of politics," Hermann Giliomee, a political scientist at the University of Cape Town, wrote in The Cape Times newspaper today. "Here the South African whites, who have become a byword in the world for myopic bigotry, endorse a process which is most likely to reduce their political representation in a year or two to a minority in an elected legislature."
"To make it even more exceptional," Professor Giliomee said, "whites have done this from a position of relative strength and in the absence of any sense of imminent defeat."
Source: New York Times
The ringing approval of 68.7 percent of the whites who voted in Tuesday's referendum left little doubt that Mr. de Klerk has their support to negotiate power sharing with blacks.
"The referendum result is close to being unique in the annals of politics," Hermann Giliomee, a political scientist at the University of Cape Town, wrote in The Cape Times newspaper today. "Here the South African whites, who have become a byword in the world for myopic bigotry, endorse a process which is most likely to reduce their political representation in a year or two to a minority in an elected legislature."
"To make it even more exceptional," Professor Giliomee said, "whites have done this from a position of relative strength and in the absence of any sense of imminent defeat."
Source: New York Times
Wednesday, February 26, 1992
Ousted Haitian Leader Signs Pact With Old Rival
Nearly five months after he was ousted in a coup, the exiled Haitian President, the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, signed an agreement today with a former political rival who is now his Prime Minister, pledging to form a "government of national unity" and to begin a timetable for the President's return to Haiti.
With a formal accord in place, diplomats say Father Aristide, who was deposed by the military under Lieut. Gen. Raoul Cedras, may also be more willing to compromise on the army chief's future. In an interview on the ABC News program "Nightline" on Monday night, Father Aristide spoke of removing General Cedras, whom he calls a common criminal unqualfied for amnesty, by constitutional means as part of an army reorganization.
Before leaving Washington, where they have been talking since Friday, Father Aristide and his Prime Minister-designate, Rene Theodore, agreed to meet again in a month to discuss a multi-party cabinet as well as the mechanics of the President's return.
In the meantime, the two leaders -- Father Aristide in exile in Venezuela and Mr. Theodore in Haiti -- are to consult regularly. Before returning to Caracas, the exiled President left today for Geneva, where he is to address a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
The accord signed by the two leaders provides for the sending of an international human rights team to Haiti to strengthen protection for civil liberties before Father Aristide returns. The Organization of American States has put together a list of about 60 potential members of a democracy mission similar to one sent to Nicaragua in 1990 to observe electoral politics, defuse crises, resettle rebels and verify accords.
Father Aristide, who won 67 percent of the votes in December 1990, has in effect exchanged some of this mandate for a compromise solution that gives him a far greater chance of returning. Many of his supporters are sharply critical of the accords signed this weekend because they are perceived as cutting into the President's legitimate powers. The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a Washington policy group, called the agreement with leaders of Parliament "a near-total defeat for Haitian democracy."
A statement by the council said: "As a combined result of ineffectual actions taken by the State Department, the regional organization and the European Community, which never respected the embargo, Aristide was effectively left with no option but to mutilate his own stature by signing away his powers in exchange for the still uncertain prospect of his restoration to what will now be a figurehead presidency."
The Haitian Embassy here, which has remained loyal to the ousted President, disagrees, saying that the President will enjoy all the rights and privileges granted by the Constitution. U.S. to Help the Lawmen. In an interview with the Voice of America, which has expanded broadcasts to Haiti in recent months, Bernard W. Aronson, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, said the United States was ready to assist Haiti in professionalizing its army and police.
Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, believes that the Bush Administration did not do enough to dislodge Haiti's military rulers earlier, thus forcing Father Aristide to compromise his party and program. "What the military thugs down there understand is that they have got a nod and a wink from the U.S. Government," Mr. Conyers said in an interview today after introducing legislation that would give Haitian refugees safe haven in the United States until democracy is restored. "If you wanted to see an end to this mobster rule," he continued, "ban air travel to the United States, impose a blockade on Haitian ships into Miami, ask for a United Nations task force."
On Wednesday, the House will consider his legislation and other proposals to grant what is known as "temporary protected status" to Haitians.
Source: New York Times
With a formal accord in place, diplomats say Father Aristide, who was deposed by the military under Lieut. Gen. Raoul Cedras, may also be more willing to compromise on the army chief's future. In an interview on the ABC News program "Nightline" on Monday night, Father Aristide spoke of removing General Cedras, whom he calls a common criminal unqualfied for amnesty, by constitutional means as part of an army reorganization.
Before leaving Washington, where they have been talking since Friday, Father Aristide and his Prime Minister-designate, Rene Theodore, agreed to meet again in a month to discuss a multi-party cabinet as well as the mechanics of the President's return.
In the meantime, the two leaders -- Father Aristide in exile in Venezuela and Mr. Theodore in Haiti -- are to consult regularly. Before returning to Caracas, the exiled President left today for Geneva, where he is to address a meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
The accord signed by the two leaders provides for the sending of an international human rights team to Haiti to strengthen protection for civil liberties before Father Aristide returns. The Organization of American States has put together a list of about 60 potential members of a democracy mission similar to one sent to Nicaragua in 1990 to observe electoral politics, defuse crises, resettle rebels and verify accords.
Father Aristide, who won 67 percent of the votes in December 1990, has in effect exchanged some of this mandate for a compromise solution that gives him a far greater chance of returning. Many of his supporters are sharply critical of the accords signed this weekend because they are perceived as cutting into the President's legitimate powers. The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, a Washington policy group, called the agreement with leaders of Parliament "a near-total defeat for Haitian democracy."
A statement by the council said: "As a combined result of ineffectual actions taken by the State Department, the regional organization and the European Community, which never respected the embargo, Aristide was effectively left with no option but to mutilate his own stature by signing away his powers in exchange for the still uncertain prospect of his restoration to what will now be a figurehead presidency."
The Haitian Embassy here, which has remained loyal to the ousted President, disagrees, saying that the President will enjoy all the rights and privileges granted by the Constitution. U.S. to Help the Lawmen. In an interview with the Voice of America, which has expanded broadcasts to Haiti in recent months, Bernard W. Aronson, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, said the United States was ready to assist Haiti in professionalizing its army and police.
Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan and a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, believes that the Bush Administration did not do enough to dislodge Haiti's military rulers earlier, thus forcing Father Aristide to compromise his party and program. "What the military thugs down there understand is that they have got a nod and a wink from the U.S. Government," Mr. Conyers said in an interview today after introducing legislation that would give Haitian refugees safe haven in the United States until democracy is restored. "If you wanted to see an end to this mobster rule," he continued, "ban air travel to the United States, impose a blockade on Haitian ships into Miami, ask for a United Nations task force."
On Wednesday, the House will consider his legislation and other proposals to grant what is known as "temporary protected status" to Haitians.
Source: New York Times
Monday, December 23, 1991
THE END OF THE SOVIET UNION; Text of Accords by Former Soviet Republics Setting Up a Commonwealth
Following are the texts of declarations signed Saturday in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, at the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, as distributed in translation by the Tass press agency. The first five declarations were signed by all 11 leaders of the republics joining the commonwealth, and the sixth, on nuclear arms, was signed by the leaders of the four republics that have nuclear arms on their soil.
PROTOCOL TO COMMONWEALTH PACT
The Azerbaijani Republic, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Byelorussia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kirghizia, the Republic of Moldavia, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tadzhikistan, Turkmenia, the Republic of Uzbekistan and Ukraine, on an equal basis, and as high contracting parties, are forming a Commonwealth of Independent States.
The agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States comes into force for each of the high contracting parties from the moment of its ratification. Documents regulating cooperation in the framework of the commonwealth will be worked out on the basis of the agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, taking into consideration reservations made during its ratification.
This protocol is a constituent part of the agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Done in Alma-Ata, on Dec. 21, 1991, in one copy in the Azerbaijani, Armenian, Byelorussian, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Moldavian, Russian, Tadzhik, Turkmen, Uzbek and Ukrainian languages. All texts are equally valid. The authentic copy is kept in the archive of the government of the republic of Byelorussia, which will send the certified copy of this protocol to the high contracting parties.
ALMA-ATA DECLARATION
THE INDEPENDENT STATES -- the Azerbaijani Republic, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Byelorussia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kirghizia, the Republic of Moldavia, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tadzhikistan, Turkmenia, the Republic of Uzbekistan and Ukraine,
SEEKING to build democratic law-governed states, the relations between which will develop on the basis of mutual recognition and respect for state sovereignty and sovereign equality, the inalienable right to self-determination, principles of equality and non-interference in internal affairs, the rejection of the use of force, the threat of force and economic and any other methods of pressure, a peaceful settlement of disputes, respect for human rights and freedoms, including the rights of national minorities, a conscientious fulfillment of commitments and other generally recognized principles and standards of international law;
RECOGNIZING AND RESPECTING each other's territorial integrity and the inviolability of the existing borders;
BELIEVING that the strengthening of the relations of friendship, good neighborliness and mutually advantageous cooperation, which has deep historic roots, meets the basic interests of nations and promotes the cause of peace and security;
BEING AWARE of their responsibility for the preservation of civil peace and inter-ethnic accord;
BEING LOYAL to the objectives and principles of the agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States;
ARE MAKING the following statement:
Cooperation between members of the commonwealth will be carried out in accordance with the principle of equality through coordinating institutions formed on a parity basis and operating in the way established by the agreements between members of the commonwealth, which is neither a state nor a super-state structure. In order to insure international strategic stability and security, allied command of the military-strategic forces and a single control over nuclear weapons will be preserved, the sides will respect each other's desire to attain the status of a non-nuclear or neutral state.
The Commonwealth of Independent States is open, with the agreement of all its participants, for other states to join -- members of the former Soviet Union as well as other states sharing the goals and principles of the commonwealth. The allegiance to cooperation in the formation and development of the common economic space, and all-European and Eurasian markets is being confirmed. With the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ceases to exist.
Member states of the commonwealth guarantee, in accordance with their constitutional procedures, the fulfillment of international obligations stemming from the treaties and agreements of the former U.S.S.R. Member states of the commonwealth pledge to observe strictly the principles of this declaration.
ON THE MILITARY
Proceeding from the provision, sealed in the agreement on the establishment of a Commonwealth of Independent States and in the Alma-Ata declaration, for keeping the common military-strategic space under a joint command and for keeping a single control over nuclear weapons, the high contracting parties agreed on the following: The command of the armed forces shall be entrusted to Marshal Yevgeny I. Shaposhnikov, pending a solution to the question of reforming the armed forces. Proposals concerning this question shall be submitted by Dec. 30, 1991, for the consideration of the heads of state.
ON INSTITUTIONS
A supreme body of the commonwealth -- a "Council of the Heads of State" -- as well as a "Council of the Heads of Government" shall be set up with a view to tackling matters connected with coordinating the activities of the states of the new commonwealth in the sphere of common interests. The plenipotentiary representatives of the states of the new commonwealth shall be instructed to submit proposals concerning the abolition of the structures of the former Soviet Union, as well as the coordinating institutions of the commonwealth for the consideration of the Council of the Heads of State.
ON U.N. MEMBERSHIP
Member states of the commonwealth, referring to Article 12 of the agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States,
PROCEEDING from the intention of each of the states to fulfill its duties stipulated by the U.N. Charter and to take part in the work of that organization as equal members;
TAKING into account that previously the Republic of Byelorussia, the U.S.S.R. and Ukraine were members of the United Nations organization;
EXPRESSING satisfaction that the Republic of Byelorussia and Ukraine continue to be U.N. members as sovereign independent states;
BEING full of resolve to promote the consolidation of world peace and security on the basis of the U.N. Charter in the interests of their nations and the whole of the world community;
HAVE DECIDED:
1. Member states of the commonwealth support Russia in taking over the U.S.S.R. membership in the U.N., including permanent membership in the Security Council and other international organizations.
2. The Republic of Byelorussia, the Russian Federation and Ukraine will help other member states of the commonwealth settle problems connected with their full membership in the U.N. and other international organizations.
Done in Alma-Ata on Dec. 21, 1991, in one copy in the Azerbaijani, Armenian, Byelorussian, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Moldavian, Russian, Tadzhik, Turkmen, Uzbek and Ukrainian languages. All texts have equal force. the original copy will be kept in the archive of the Government of the Republic of Byelorussia, which will send the high contracting parties a certified copy of this protocol.
For the Azerbaijani Republic A. MUTALIBOV
For the Republic of Byelorussia S. SHUSHKEVICH
For the Republic of Armenia L. TER -PETROSYAN
For the Republic of Kazakhstan N. NAZARBAYEV
For the Republic of Kirghizia A. AKAYEV
For the Republic of Moldavia M. SNEGUR
For the Russian Federation B. YELTSIN,
For the Republic of Tadzhikistan R. NABIYEV
For Turkmenia S. NIYAZOV
For the Republic of Uzbekistan I. KARIMOV
For Ukraine L. KRAVCHUK ON NUCLEAR ARMS
Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, called henceforth member states,
CONFIRMING their adherence to the non-proliferation of nuclear armaments;
STRIVING for the elimination of all nuclear armaments, and
WISHING to act to strengthen international stability, have agreed on the following:
Article 1: The nuclear armaments that are part of the unified strategic armed forces insure the collective security of all members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Article 2: The member states of this agreement confirm the obligation not to be the first to use nuclear weapons.
Article 3: The member states of this agreement are jointly drawing up a policy on nuclear matters.
Article 4: Until nuclear weapons have been completely eliminated on the territory of the Republic of ByeloRussia and Ukraine, decisions on the need to use them are taken, by agreement with the heads of the member states of the agreement, by the R.S.F.S.R. [ Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic ] President, on the basis of procedures drawn up jointly by the member states.
Article 5:1: The republics of Byelorussia and Ukraine undertake to join the 1968 nuclear non-proliferation treaty as non-nuclear states and to conclude with the International Atomic Energy Agency the appropriate agreements-guarantees,
Article 5:2: The member states of this agreement undertake not to transfer to anyone nuclear weapons or other triggering devices and technologies, or control over such nuclear triggering devices, either directly or indirectly, as well as not in any way to help, encourage and prompt any state not possessing nuclear weapons to produce nuclear weapons or other nuclear triggering devices, and also control over such weapons or triggering devices.
Article 5:3: The provisions of paragraph 2 of this article do not stand in the way of transferring nuclear weapons from Byelorussia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to R.S.F.S.R. territory with a view to destroying them.
Article 6: The member states of this agreement, in accordance with the international treaty, will assist in the eliminating of nuclear weapons. By July 1, 1992 Byelorussia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine will insure the withdrawal of tactical nuclear weapons to central factory premises for dismantling under joint supervision.
Article 7: The Governments of Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine undertake to submit a treaty on strategic offensive arms for ratification to the Supreme Soviets of their states.
Article 8: This agreement requires ratification. It will come into force on the 30th day after the handing over of all ratification papers to the government of the R.S.F.S.R. for safekeeping.
Done in Alma-Ata in one certified copy in Byelorussian, Kazakh, Russian and Ukrainian languages, all texts being equally authentic.
Source: New York Times
PROTOCOL TO COMMONWEALTH PACT
The Azerbaijani Republic, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Byelorussia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kirghizia, the Republic of Moldavia, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tadzhikistan, Turkmenia, the Republic of Uzbekistan and Ukraine, on an equal basis, and as high contracting parties, are forming a Commonwealth of Independent States.
The agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States comes into force for each of the high contracting parties from the moment of its ratification. Documents regulating cooperation in the framework of the commonwealth will be worked out on the basis of the agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, taking into consideration reservations made during its ratification.
This protocol is a constituent part of the agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Done in Alma-Ata, on Dec. 21, 1991, in one copy in the Azerbaijani, Armenian, Byelorussian, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Moldavian, Russian, Tadzhik, Turkmen, Uzbek and Ukrainian languages. All texts are equally valid. The authentic copy is kept in the archive of the government of the republic of Byelorussia, which will send the certified copy of this protocol to the high contracting parties.
ALMA-ATA DECLARATION
THE INDEPENDENT STATES -- the Azerbaijani Republic, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Byelorussia, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Kirghizia, the Republic of Moldavia, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tadzhikistan, Turkmenia, the Republic of Uzbekistan and Ukraine,
SEEKING to build democratic law-governed states, the relations between which will develop on the basis of mutual recognition and respect for state sovereignty and sovereign equality, the inalienable right to self-determination, principles of equality and non-interference in internal affairs, the rejection of the use of force, the threat of force and economic and any other methods of pressure, a peaceful settlement of disputes, respect for human rights and freedoms, including the rights of national minorities, a conscientious fulfillment of commitments and other generally recognized principles and standards of international law;
RECOGNIZING AND RESPECTING each other's territorial integrity and the inviolability of the existing borders;
BELIEVING that the strengthening of the relations of friendship, good neighborliness and mutually advantageous cooperation, which has deep historic roots, meets the basic interests of nations and promotes the cause of peace and security;
BEING AWARE of their responsibility for the preservation of civil peace and inter-ethnic accord;
BEING LOYAL to the objectives and principles of the agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States;
ARE MAKING the following statement:
Cooperation between members of the commonwealth will be carried out in accordance with the principle of equality through coordinating institutions formed on a parity basis and operating in the way established by the agreements between members of the commonwealth, which is neither a state nor a super-state structure. In order to insure international strategic stability and security, allied command of the military-strategic forces and a single control over nuclear weapons will be preserved, the sides will respect each other's desire to attain the status of a non-nuclear or neutral state.
The Commonwealth of Independent States is open, with the agreement of all its participants, for other states to join -- members of the former Soviet Union as well as other states sharing the goals and principles of the commonwealth. The allegiance to cooperation in the formation and development of the common economic space, and all-European and Eurasian markets is being confirmed. With the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ceases to exist.
Member states of the commonwealth guarantee, in accordance with their constitutional procedures, the fulfillment of international obligations stemming from the treaties and agreements of the former U.S.S.R. Member states of the commonwealth pledge to observe strictly the principles of this declaration.
ON THE MILITARY
Proceeding from the provision, sealed in the agreement on the establishment of a Commonwealth of Independent States and in the Alma-Ata declaration, for keeping the common military-strategic space under a joint command and for keeping a single control over nuclear weapons, the high contracting parties agreed on the following: The command of the armed forces shall be entrusted to Marshal Yevgeny I. Shaposhnikov, pending a solution to the question of reforming the armed forces. Proposals concerning this question shall be submitted by Dec. 30, 1991, for the consideration of the heads of state.
ON INSTITUTIONS
A supreme body of the commonwealth -- a "Council of the Heads of State" -- as well as a "Council of the Heads of Government" shall be set up with a view to tackling matters connected with coordinating the activities of the states of the new commonwealth in the sphere of common interests. The plenipotentiary representatives of the states of the new commonwealth shall be instructed to submit proposals concerning the abolition of the structures of the former Soviet Union, as well as the coordinating institutions of the commonwealth for the consideration of the Council of the Heads of State.
ON U.N. MEMBERSHIP
Member states of the commonwealth, referring to Article 12 of the agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States,
PROCEEDING from the intention of each of the states to fulfill its duties stipulated by the U.N. Charter and to take part in the work of that organization as equal members;
TAKING into account that previously the Republic of Byelorussia, the U.S.S.R. and Ukraine were members of the United Nations organization;
EXPRESSING satisfaction that the Republic of Byelorussia and Ukraine continue to be U.N. members as sovereign independent states;
BEING full of resolve to promote the consolidation of world peace and security on the basis of the U.N. Charter in the interests of their nations and the whole of the world community;
HAVE DECIDED:
1. Member states of the commonwealth support Russia in taking over the U.S.S.R. membership in the U.N., including permanent membership in the Security Council and other international organizations.
2. The Republic of Byelorussia, the Russian Federation and Ukraine will help other member states of the commonwealth settle problems connected with their full membership in the U.N. and other international organizations.
Done in Alma-Ata on Dec. 21, 1991, in one copy in the Azerbaijani, Armenian, Byelorussian, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Moldavian, Russian, Tadzhik, Turkmen, Uzbek and Ukrainian languages. All texts have equal force. the original copy will be kept in the archive of the Government of the Republic of Byelorussia, which will send the high contracting parties a certified copy of this protocol.
For the Azerbaijani Republic A. MUTALIBOV
For the Republic of Byelorussia S. SHUSHKEVICH
For the Republic of Armenia L. TER -PETROSYAN
For the Republic of Kazakhstan N. NAZARBAYEV
For the Republic of Kirghizia A. AKAYEV
For the Republic of Moldavia M. SNEGUR
For the Russian Federation B. YELTSIN,
For the Republic of Tadzhikistan R. NABIYEV
For Turkmenia S. NIYAZOV
For the Republic of Uzbekistan I. KARIMOV
For Ukraine L. KRAVCHUK ON NUCLEAR ARMS
Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, called henceforth member states,
CONFIRMING their adherence to the non-proliferation of nuclear armaments;
STRIVING for the elimination of all nuclear armaments, and
WISHING to act to strengthen international stability, have agreed on the following:
Article 1: The nuclear armaments that are part of the unified strategic armed forces insure the collective security of all members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Article 2: The member states of this agreement confirm the obligation not to be the first to use nuclear weapons.
Article 3: The member states of this agreement are jointly drawing up a policy on nuclear matters.
Article 4: Until nuclear weapons have been completely eliminated on the territory of the Republic of ByeloRussia and Ukraine, decisions on the need to use them are taken, by agreement with the heads of the member states of the agreement, by the R.S.F.S.R. [ Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic ] President, on the basis of procedures drawn up jointly by the member states.
Article 5:1: The republics of Byelorussia and Ukraine undertake to join the 1968 nuclear non-proliferation treaty as non-nuclear states and to conclude with the International Atomic Energy Agency the appropriate agreements-guarantees,
Article 5:2: The member states of this agreement undertake not to transfer to anyone nuclear weapons or other triggering devices and technologies, or control over such nuclear triggering devices, either directly or indirectly, as well as not in any way to help, encourage and prompt any state not possessing nuclear weapons to produce nuclear weapons or other nuclear triggering devices, and also control over such weapons or triggering devices.
Article 5:3: The provisions of paragraph 2 of this article do not stand in the way of transferring nuclear weapons from Byelorussia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to R.S.F.S.R. territory with a view to destroying them.
Article 6: The member states of this agreement, in accordance with the international treaty, will assist in the eliminating of nuclear weapons. By July 1, 1992 Byelorussia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine will insure the withdrawal of tactical nuclear weapons to central factory premises for dismantling under joint supervision.
Article 7: The Governments of Byelorussia, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Ukraine undertake to submit a treaty on strategic offensive arms for ratification to the Supreme Soviets of their states.
Article 8: This agreement requires ratification. It will come into force on the 30th day after the handing over of all ratification papers to the government of the R.S.F.S.R. for safekeeping.
Done in Alma-Ata in one certified copy in Byelorussian, Kazakh, Russian and Ukrainian languages, all texts being equally authentic.
Source: New York Times
Saturday, October 12, 1991
U.N. Assembly Calls for the Restoration of Haiti's Ousted President
Strongly condemning the military coup in Haiti, the General Assembly called today for the immediate restoration of the democratically elected Government of the exiled President, the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, but made no move to request that peacekeeping forces be sent to the area.
After delegates from around the world denounced the military takeover in Haiti and expressed support for Father Aristide, who was ousted Sept. 30, the Assembly unanimously approved without a vote a resolution demanding his immediate return to office, full application of the Constitution and full observance of human rights in Haiti.
The resolution, introduced by the Foreign Minister Roberto Flores Bermudez of Honduras, as chairman of the Latin American and Caribbean Group, also declared "unacceptable" any entity resulting from the illegal situation and expressed support for measures taken by the Organization of American States.
Later, Haiti's delegate to the United Nations, Fritz E. Longchamp, said at a news conference that he was very satisfied with the resolution, which he said "from a moral and political standpoint, is very important. We're not looking for military action to solve the problem," the Haitian delegate said. He stressed that Father Aristide wanted a peaceful solution to the problem and had called on the people to resist by nonviolent means.
In the Assembly debate, the United States delegate, Thomas R. Pickering, declared that his Government "does not and will not recognize the self-appointed junta which has illegally usurped power in Haiti." He said the United States strongly supported efforts by the Organization of American States to resolve the crisis and restore Father Aristide's "legitimate, constitutional rule."
There was no indication in Mr. Pickering's statement that the United States was moving away from its unequivocal support of the ousted President. Some Administration officials last week criticized Father Aristide for what they said was his condoning of mob violence by his supporters.
The French delegate here, Jean-Bernard Merimee, called the recent move by the military leaders in Haiti to name a provisional President "a second coup d'etat." He said President Aristide, who was elected with a large majority through free, United Nations-supervised elections, respresented "the only legitimate constitutional order."
In a strong statement of support for the Aristide Government, Canada's Secretary of State for External Affairs, Barbara McDougall, expressed "anxiety and outrage" over the evolving tragedy in Haiti. "We cannot accept that military intervention is the means to an end and that the people's will is overturned by the interests of a few," the Canadian official said. She urged all countries to join the O.A.S. in its effort to restore constitutional stability in the region, including a trade embargo on Haiti except for humanitarian aid.
Haiti's provisional President moved to form a new government today, announcing the appointment of Jean-Jacques Honorat as Prime Minister. Mr. Honorat is a civil rights leader and staunch foe of the deposed President, Father Aristide.
A terse announcement on the national radio said only that "Jean-Jacques Honorat is named Prime Minister."
The provisional President, Joseph Nerette, issued a call for Parliament to meet on Saturday to ratify the appointment of Mr. Honorat, a lawyer, agronomist and leader of the Haitian Center for Human Rights.
He was known to be the most popular choice among lawmakers, who met privately all day on Thursday to consider canidates from a list sumbitted by Mr. Nerette. Parliamentary approval is considered to be virtually assured.
Source: New York Times
After delegates from around the world denounced the military takeover in Haiti and expressed support for Father Aristide, who was ousted Sept. 30, the Assembly unanimously approved without a vote a resolution demanding his immediate return to office, full application of the Constitution and full observance of human rights in Haiti.
The resolution, introduced by the Foreign Minister Roberto Flores Bermudez of Honduras, as chairman of the Latin American and Caribbean Group, also declared "unacceptable" any entity resulting from the illegal situation and expressed support for measures taken by the Organization of American States.
Later, Haiti's delegate to the United Nations, Fritz E. Longchamp, said at a news conference that he was very satisfied with the resolution, which he said "from a moral and political standpoint, is very important. We're not looking for military action to solve the problem," the Haitian delegate said. He stressed that Father Aristide wanted a peaceful solution to the problem and had called on the people to resist by nonviolent means.
In the Assembly debate, the United States delegate, Thomas R. Pickering, declared that his Government "does not and will not recognize the self-appointed junta which has illegally usurped power in Haiti." He said the United States strongly supported efforts by the Organization of American States to resolve the crisis and restore Father Aristide's "legitimate, constitutional rule."
There was no indication in Mr. Pickering's statement that the United States was moving away from its unequivocal support of the ousted President. Some Administration officials last week criticized Father Aristide for what they said was his condoning of mob violence by his supporters.
The French delegate here, Jean-Bernard Merimee, called the recent move by the military leaders in Haiti to name a provisional President "a second coup d'etat." He said President Aristide, who was elected with a large majority through free, United Nations-supervised elections, respresented "the only legitimate constitutional order."
In a strong statement of support for the Aristide Government, Canada's Secretary of State for External Affairs, Barbara McDougall, expressed "anxiety and outrage" over the evolving tragedy in Haiti. "We cannot accept that military intervention is the means to an end and that the people's will is overturned by the interests of a few," the Canadian official said. She urged all countries to join the O.A.S. in its effort to restore constitutional stability in the region, including a trade embargo on Haiti except for humanitarian aid.
Haiti's provisional President moved to form a new government today, announcing the appointment of Jean-Jacques Honorat as Prime Minister. Mr. Honorat is a civil rights leader and staunch foe of the deposed President, Father Aristide.
A terse announcement on the national radio said only that "Jean-Jacques Honorat is named Prime Minister."
The provisional President, Joseph Nerette, issued a call for Parliament to meet on Saturday to ratify the appointment of Mr. Honorat, a lawyer, agronomist and leader of the Haitian Center for Human Rights.
He was known to be the most popular choice among lawmakers, who met privately all day on Thursday to consider canidates from a list sumbitted by Mr. Nerette. Parliamentary approval is considered to be virtually assured.
Source: New York Times
Monday, October 7, 1991
IN POLICY SHIFT, U.S. CRITICIZES HAITIAN ON RIGHTS ABUSES
Administration officials have begun to move away from the unequivocal support they have voiced for the ousted Haitian President, the Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide, citing concerns over his human rights record.
After Father Aristide was ousted in a coup last Monday, President Bush and Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d both demanded his reinstatement as President with no conditions. But today, officials said they had concluded that Father Aristide must publicly disavow mob violence and work toward sharing power with the Parliament. Such acts, Administration officials said, are necessary if he is to gain the Haitian and international support he needs to return to office.
With this shift, the officials, who had said his reinstatement was necessary for the hemisphere's democracies to resist a comeback of military rule, are now hinting that Father Aristide is at least in part to blame for his fall from office. While strongly criticizing the Haitian military for carrying out the coup, these officials now concede that Father Aristide's condoning and even encouragement of vigilante justice by mobs of his supporters in the streets has jeopardized his moral authority and popularity. Aristide Denounces Violence
After meeting with a high-level delegation from the Organization of American States here this morning, Father Aristide made a short statement in French to reporters, in which he denounced violence in Haiti by all parties, including, specifically, vigilante killings in which tires are placed around the necks of victims and then set on fire.. He also called on Haitians to respect the Constitution and human rights, thanked the O.A.S. for its efforts and said he would welcome some sort of presence by the organization in Haiti.
Father Aristide, a 38-year-old Roman Catholic priest, became the nation's first democratically elected president in December when he won 67 percent of the vote in a popular election.
In Haiti tonight, the Parliament moved toward naming an interim president to form a coalition cabinet and negotiate the return of Father Aristide. The goal was apparently not only to reinstate him but also to put conditions on his return that would force him to work with other Haitian institutions and leaders and to avoid any human rights violations. The reasons for the sudden refocusing of Administration concerns from placing full blame for the current crisis on the military to criticism of Father Aristide were not immediately clear. The new criticism of Father Aristide would put the Administration in a more favorable position to negotiate with the Haitian Army.
Underscoring the change in attitude, American officials are beginning to quietly disclose a thick notebook detailing accounts of human rights abuses that took place during Father Aristide's rule. The Administration has apparently been aware of the human rights violations for some time, but officials are only now beginning to emphasize them in their remarks to reporters. That point was driven home in meetings that the O.A.S. delegation held in Haiti last week with business and political leaders who complained that Father Aristide had failed to nurture the country's new democratic institutions. Several suggested that he was trying to develop another dictatorship with his own militia, and that he was at least indirectly responsible for scores of political killings.
The eight members of the O.A.S. delegation, which includes Bernard W. Aronson, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American affairs, returned to Washington this morning to meet with Father Aristide for nearly three hours. The members told Father Aristide that they had heard widespread concerns in Haiti from people who accused him of excesses in his rule.
An official close to the delegation said the members had strongly suggested that he speak out against mob violence and in favor of constitutional rule. The official said they had also advised him to "begin a dialogue" with Haitian parliamentary leaders to discuss the outlines of what kind of O.A.S. presence Haiti would accept to avert future human rights violations. "Part of the equation for putting him back in his rightful place and reaching a solution," a State Department official said, "is for him to assure all Haitians that he will not tolerate or condone the mob violence that has taken place."
The official added, "There is a generalized fear down there that the mobs that sometimes act for President Aristide's Lavalas movement have been tolerated or condoned by him." Officials stressed that while Haitian soldiers had used violence against crowds, Father Aristide's forces had also used force and murdered.
In a speech Father Aristide made late last month on the steps of the Presidential Palace, he appeared to agree to the lynching of opponents with tires placed around their necks then set afire. He said burning rubber produced "such a nice smell."
The small cracks that are beginning to emerge in American support for Father Aristide underscore the quandary the Administration faces in Haiti. For years Father Aristide complained bitterly that United States support had maintained the Duvalier family dictatorship in power. Despite Father Aristide's anti-Americanism and socialist inclinations, when he won overwhelmingly in Haiti's first free election, the Administration embraced him as an agent for democratic change.
Mr. Bush has placed less emphasis on the Caribbean basin than did President Ronald Reagan, but a number of senior officials including Vice President Dan Quayle and Mr. Aronson have given special attention to the island. These officials have expressed concern that the failure of democracy in Haiti could embolden other militaries in the region, while it could set off a civil war and a quickening migration of Haitians to the United States.
When Father Aristide was overthrown last week, the Administration was faced with the first test of Mr. Bush's new world order in the Western Hemisphere. It quickly intervened to demand that the army protect Father Aristide's life and allow him to leave the country. And some senior American officials would not discount the possibility that military force might have to be employed to put Father Aristide back in power.
Source: New York Times
After Father Aristide was ousted in a coup last Monday, President Bush and Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d both demanded his reinstatement as President with no conditions. But today, officials said they had concluded that Father Aristide must publicly disavow mob violence and work toward sharing power with the Parliament. Such acts, Administration officials said, are necessary if he is to gain the Haitian and international support he needs to return to office.
With this shift, the officials, who had said his reinstatement was necessary for the hemisphere's democracies to resist a comeback of military rule, are now hinting that Father Aristide is at least in part to blame for his fall from office. While strongly criticizing the Haitian military for carrying out the coup, these officials now concede that Father Aristide's condoning and even encouragement of vigilante justice by mobs of his supporters in the streets has jeopardized his moral authority and popularity. Aristide Denounces Violence
After meeting with a high-level delegation from the Organization of American States here this morning, Father Aristide made a short statement in French to reporters, in which he denounced violence in Haiti by all parties, including, specifically, vigilante killings in which tires are placed around the necks of victims and then set on fire.. He also called on Haitians to respect the Constitution and human rights, thanked the O.A.S. for its efforts and said he would welcome some sort of presence by the organization in Haiti.
Father Aristide, a 38-year-old Roman Catholic priest, became the nation's first democratically elected president in December when he won 67 percent of the vote in a popular election.
In Haiti tonight, the Parliament moved toward naming an interim president to form a coalition cabinet and negotiate the return of Father Aristide. The goal was apparently not only to reinstate him but also to put conditions on his return that would force him to work with other Haitian institutions and leaders and to avoid any human rights violations. The reasons for the sudden refocusing of Administration concerns from placing full blame for the current crisis on the military to criticism of Father Aristide were not immediately clear. The new criticism of Father Aristide would put the Administration in a more favorable position to negotiate with the Haitian Army.
Underscoring the change in attitude, American officials are beginning to quietly disclose a thick notebook detailing accounts of human rights abuses that took place during Father Aristide's rule. The Administration has apparently been aware of the human rights violations for some time, but officials are only now beginning to emphasize them in their remarks to reporters. That point was driven home in meetings that the O.A.S. delegation held in Haiti last week with business and political leaders who complained that Father Aristide had failed to nurture the country's new democratic institutions. Several suggested that he was trying to develop another dictatorship with his own militia, and that he was at least indirectly responsible for scores of political killings.
The eight members of the O.A.S. delegation, which includes Bernard W. Aronson, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American affairs, returned to Washington this morning to meet with Father Aristide for nearly three hours. The members told Father Aristide that they had heard widespread concerns in Haiti from people who accused him of excesses in his rule.
An official close to the delegation said the members had strongly suggested that he speak out against mob violence and in favor of constitutional rule. The official said they had also advised him to "begin a dialogue" with Haitian parliamentary leaders to discuss the outlines of what kind of O.A.S. presence Haiti would accept to avert future human rights violations. "Part of the equation for putting him back in his rightful place and reaching a solution," a State Department official said, "is for him to assure all Haitians that he will not tolerate or condone the mob violence that has taken place."
The official added, "There is a generalized fear down there that the mobs that sometimes act for President Aristide's Lavalas movement have been tolerated or condoned by him." Officials stressed that while Haitian soldiers had used violence against crowds, Father Aristide's forces had also used force and murdered.
In a speech Father Aristide made late last month on the steps of the Presidential Palace, he appeared to agree to the lynching of opponents with tires placed around their necks then set afire. He said burning rubber produced "such a nice smell."
The small cracks that are beginning to emerge in American support for Father Aristide underscore the quandary the Administration faces in Haiti. For years Father Aristide complained bitterly that United States support had maintained the Duvalier family dictatorship in power. Despite Father Aristide's anti-Americanism and socialist inclinations, when he won overwhelmingly in Haiti's first free election, the Administration embraced him as an agent for democratic change.
Mr. Bush has placed less emphasis on the Caribbean basin than did President Ronald Reagan, but a number of senior officials including Vice President Dan Quayle and Mr. Aronson have given special attention to the island. These officials have expressed concern that the failure of democracy in Haiti could embolden other militaries in the region, while it could set off a civil war and a quickening migration of Haitians to the United States.
When Father Aristide was overthrown last week, the Administration was faced with the first test of Mr. Bush's new world order in the Western Hemisphere. It quickly intervened to demand that the army protect Father Aristide's life and allow him to leave the country. And some senior American officials would not discount the possibility that military force might have to be employed to put Father Aristide back in power.
Source: New York Times
Tuesday, October 1, 1991
Haiti's Military Assumes Power After Troops Arrest the President
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Haiti's first freely elected president, was ousted tonight by the military, the army commander said. A Government official said Mr. Aristide was taken to the airport to be deported to France, adding that the United States Ambassador, Alvin Adams, accompanied Mr. Aristide to the airport.
Brig. Gen. Raul Cedras announced in a broadcast at 11 P.M. that the military had assumed control, following a day of violence in which at least 26 people were killed. "Today, the armed forces find themselves obligated to assume the heavy responsibility to keep the ship of state afloat," General Cedras said. "After seven months of democratic experience, the country once again finds itself a prey to the horrors of uncertainty," he added. "With all Haitians we will bring the ship to port."
The takeover began with mutinies at an army base and a police station Sunday night. Rebellious soldiers fired on Mr. Aristide's private residence at daybreak and on his entourage as it later headed to the National Palace. The soldiers later seized the palace and captured Mr. Aristide. His foreign minister, Jean-Robert Sabalat, said the President was taken to army headquarters. Diplomatic sources said Venezuelan, French and United States officials had negotiated to save the President's life.
A prominent Haitian politician, who spoke on condition that he not be identified, said Prime Minister Rene Preval and Information Minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue also had been arrested.
General Cedras, 42, became provisional Commander-in-Chief of the army on July 3, when Mr. Aristide named him to replace Lieut. Gen. Herard Abraham. The retirement of General Abraham was described at the time as bolstering Mr. Aristide's control over the military. "The armed forces of Haiti insist on reaffirming that it is an apolitical institution at the service of the Haitian people," General Cedras said in his statement, carried on Radio France Internationale. "It will respect constitutional order, guarantee democratic liberty and will not condone any act of pillage and even less so the flaming tire necklace execution."
General Cedras urged the population to help create a "serene climate favorable to the next election." A powerful sector of Haiti's 7,000-member army has long opposed the leftist policies of Mr. Aristide, a Roman Catholic priest who draws much of his popularity from the impoverished masses. The leaders of the military takeover today charged that Mr. Aristide was interfering in army affairs.
At least 26 people were killed and 200 wounded as Aristide loyalists battled soldiers. The sounds of gunfire continued late into the night. International Reaction The United States and Canada condemned the coup attempt and demanded Mr. Aristide's release. The Organization of American States demanded that Mr. Aristide be returned to office and said those who arrested him would be held accountable. It called a meeting of leaders within the next 10 days to consider options that could include the use of force.
The United Nations Security Council convened in a late-night session. The uprising occurred four days after Mr. Aristide addressed the United Nations General Assembly his first trip to the United States since becoming president of this coup-prone Caribbean nation. He said at the time that he was certain Haiti had left the dark days of dictatorship behind.
Mr. Aristide's visit to New York, a city where there are 300,000 people of Haitian descent, the largest population outside the Caribbean nation itself, touched off carnival-like celebrations. In his address to the United Nations, he stressed peace and human rights themes.
Among those killed when the unrest first flared Sunday night was Sylvio Claude, an evangelical preacher and two-time presidential candidate. Only one of more than a dozen radio stations in Haiti, Radio Soleil, which is run by the Catholic Church, continued to broadcast news after Mr. Aristide was seized. Some stations shut down after being strafed by gunfire, and others switched to music-only formats.
State television broadcast test patterns. The international airport was closed Monday afternoon. Mr. Aristide, a 38-year-old parish priest, had been at home with aides and a bodyguard at the time of the first attack, the government said.
Radio Cacique, an independent station, said an armored personel carrier was attacked when it went to Aristide's home to take him to the National Palace from his residence in La Plaine, six miles from Port-au-Prince.
The trouble began Sunday night with mutinies at an army training camp at Freres, just outside Port-au-Prince, and at an army-run police station in the downtown area of the capital. Shortly before midnight Sunday, the head of Radio Nationale, Michel Favard, went on the air to say a government official told him a coup was believed under way. Mr. Favard is a longtime Aristide aide. Minutes later, six soldiers burst into the station, handcuffed Mr. Favard and took him away, sources at the radio station said. An unidentified soldier, speaking on Radio Soleil, said the rebels had issued seven demands. One was that the Government disband a unit of 50 civilians reportedly being trained by the Swiss as a commandos. Some in the army feared the unit was being trained as an elite militia under Mr. Aristide's direct command.
The rebels also demanded that the Government confirm the appointment of nine officers assigned on an interim basis to the Army High Command. Mr. Aristide had been scheduled to pay a call on President Bush next week in the Oval Office, according to an official traveling with Mr. Bush on a campaign trip in New Orleans.
Mr. Aristide has moved since the first day of his administration to shake up the notoriously corrupt army, historically an agent of repression in Haiti. Upon assuming office, he replaced generals from the Army High Command with younger officers more inclined toward democracy, but has not made the appointments permanent. Delay of Confirmation
Dissident soldiers say Mr. Aristide has been withholding permanent assignment to ensure the generals remain under his control. Mr. Claude, the 57-year-old former presidential candidate, was set upon by a mob in the southern provincial town of Cayes as he was leaving a political meeting Sunday night. Assailants burned him in the streets, according to Radio Antilles, an independent station.
Prime Minister Rene Preval blamed the unrest on remnants of the Tonton Macoutes, the outlawed militia that brutally enforced the rule of the late President Francois Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier.
Street demonstrations in support of Mr. Aristide turned violent here tonight as hundreds of people in the "Little Haiti" neighborhood threw rocks and bottles at police officers and looted stores. The police, who dispersed the demonstrators with tear gas, said crowds in the neighborhood seized several cars and set them on fire, broke into stores and carried away furniture and other items, which were then used to keep bonfires burning.
The Police Chief, Calvin Ross, said that there had been some arrests and that one patrol car had been burned, but he reported no deaths or serious injuries. Demonstrators had taken to the streets upon hearing reports that Mr. Aristide was in military custody. The Haitian President visited Miami on Thursday to thank the large community of Haitians and Haitian-Americans for its support of him and his reform program.
The police, fearing violence like that which broke out in 1986 here during a similar period of political instability in Haiti, were called in quickly. But the police were under orders not to use live ammunition to break up the crowds. "We want Aristide," chanted demonstrators as they marched down the main street of "Little Haiti." Others shouted slogans blaming President Bush, who was in Miami today, and the C.I.A. for the military uprising. Some demanded American intervention to restore Mr. Aristide to power.
About 2,000 angry Haitians demonstrated outside the United Nations building in New York City last night in response to the arrest of President Aristide. A police spokesman, Officer Andrew McInnis, said the demonstration began at about 6 P.M. and lasted until past midnight. There were no arrests. "We want to challenge the U.N. to back up our President," said one of the protesters, Marie D. Volny, who has lived in Brooklyn since 1970. The protesters sang, danced, chanted and waved banners denouncing the coup.
Source: New York Times
Brig. Gen. Raul Cedras announced in a broadcast at 11 P.M. that the military had assumed control, following a day of violence in which at least 26 people were killed. "Today, the armed forces find themselves obligated to assume the heavy responsibility to keep the ship of state afloat," General Cedras said. "After seven months of democratic experience, the country once again finds itself a prey to the horrors of uncertainty," he added. "With all Haitians we will bring the ship to port."
The takeover began with mutinies at an army base and a police station Sunday night. Rebellious soldiers fired on Mr. Aristide's private residence at daybreak and on his entourage as it later headed to the National Palace. The soldiers later seized the palace and captured Mr. Aristide. His foreign minister, Jean-Robert Sabalat, said the President was taken to army headquarters. Diplomatic sources said Venezuelan, French and United States officials had negotiated to save the President's life.
A prominent Haitian politician, who spoke on condition that he not be identified, said Prime Minister Rene Preval and Information Minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue also had been arrested.
General Cedras, 42, became provisional Commander-in-Chief of the army on July 3, when Mr. Aristide named him to replace Lieut. Gen. Herard Abraham. The retirement of General Abraham was described at the time as bolstering Mr. Aristide's control over the military. "The armed forces of Haiti insist on reaffirming that it is an apolitical institution at the service of the Haitian people," General Cedras said in his statement, carried on Radio France Internationale. "It will respect constitutional order, guarantee democratic liberty and will not condone any act of pillage and even less so the flaming tire necklace execution."
General Cedras urged the population to help create a "serene climate favorable to the next election." A powerful sector of Haiti's 7,000-member army has long opposed the leftist policies of Mr. Aristide, a Roman Catholic priest who draws much of his popularity from the impoverished masses. The leaders of the military takeover today charged that Mr. Aristide was interfering in army affairs.
At least 26 people were killed and 200 wounded as Aristide loyalists battled soldiers. The sounds of gunfire continued late into the night. International Reaction The United States and Canada condemned the coup attempt and demanded Mr. Aristide's release. The Organization of American States demanded that Mr. Aristide be returned to office and said those who arrested him would be held accountable. It called a meeting of leaders within the next 10 days to consider options that could include the use of force.
The United Nations Security Council convened in a late-night session. The uprising occurred four days after Mr. Aristide addressed the United Nations General Assembly his first trip to the United States since becoming president of this coup-prone Caribbean nation. He said at the time that he was certain Haiti had left the dark days of dictatorship behind.
Mr. Aristide's visit to New York, a city where there are 300,000 people of Haitian descent, the largest population outside the Caribbean nation itself, touched off carnival-like celebrations. In his address to the United Nations, he stressed peace and human rights themes.
Among those killed when the unrest first flared Sunday night was Sylvio Claude, an evangelical preacher and two-time presidential candidate. Only one of more than a dozen radio stations in Haiti, Radio Soleil, which is run by the Catholic Church, continued to broadcast news after Mr. Aristide was seized. Some stations shut down after being strafed by gunfire, and others switched to music-only formats.
State television broadcast test patterns. The international airport was closed Monday afternoon. Mr. Aristide, a 38-year-old parish priest, had been at home with aides and a bodyguard at the time of the first attack, the government said.
Radio Cacique, an independent station, said an armored personel carrier was attacked when it went to Aristide's home to take him to the National Palace from his residence in La Plaine, six miles from Port-au-Prince.
The trouble began Sunday night with mutinies at an army training camp at Freres, just outside Port-au-Prince, and at an army-run police station in the downtown area of the capital. Shortly before midnight Sunday, the head of Radio Nationale, Michel Favard, went on the air to say a government official told him a coup was believed under way. Mr. Favard is a longtime Aristide aide. Minutes later, six soldiers burst into the station, handcuffed Mr. Favard and took him away, sources at the radio station said. An unidentified soldier, speaking on Radio Soleil, said the rebels had issued seven demands. One was that the Government disband a unit of 50 civilians reportedly being trained by the Swiss as a commandos. Some in the army feared the unit was being trained as an elite militia under Mr. Aristide's direct command.
The rebels also demanded that the Government confirm the appointment of nine officers assigned on an interim basis to the Army High Command. Mr. Aristide had been scheduled to pay a call on President Bush next week in the Oval Office, according to an official traveling with Mr. Bush on a campaign trip in New Orleans.
Mr. Aristide has moved since the first day of his administration to shake up the notoriously corrupt army, historically an agent of repression in Haiti. Upon assuming office, he replaced generals from the Army High Command with younger officers more inclined toward democracy, but has not made the appointments permanent. Delay of Confirmation
Dissident soldiers say Mr. Aristide has been withholding permanent assignment to ensure the generals remain under his control. Mr. Claude, the 57-year-old former presidential candidate, was set upon by a mob in the southern provincial town of Cayes as he was leaving a political meeting Sunday night. Assailants burned him in the streets, according to Radio Antilles, an independent station.
Prime Minister Rene Preval blamed the unrest on remnants of the Tonton Macoutes, the outlawed militia that brutally enforced the rule of the late President Francois Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier.
Street demonstrations in support of Mr. Aristide turned violent here tonight as hundreds of people in the "Little Haiti" neighborhood threw rocks and bottles at police officers and looted stores. The police, who dispersed the demonstrators with tear gas, said crowds in the neighborhood seized several cars and set them on fire, broke into stores and carried away furniture and other items, which were then used to keep bonfires burning.
The Police Chief, Calvin Ross, said that there had been some arrests and that one patrol car had been burned, but he reported no deaths or serious injuries. Demonstrators had taken to the streets upon hearing reports that Mr. Aristide was in military custody. The Haitian President visited Miami on Thursday to thank the large community of Haitians and Haitian-Americans for its support of him and his reform program.
The police, fearing violence like that which broke out in 1986 here during a similar period of political instability in Haiti, were called in quickly. But the police were under orders not to use live ammunition to break up the crowds. "We want Aristide," chanted demonstrators as they marched down the main street of "Little Haiti." Others shouted slogans blaming President Bush, who was in Miami today, and the C.I.A. for the military uprising. Some demanded American intervention to restore Mr. Aristide to power.
About 2,000 angry Haitians demonstrated outside the United Nations building in New York City last night in response to the arrest of President Aristide. A police spokesman, Officer Andrew McInnis, said the demonstration began at about 6 P.M. and lasted until past midnight. There were no arrests. "We want to challenge the U.N. to back up our President," said one of the protesters, Marie D. Volny, who has lived in Brooklyn since 1970. The protesters sang, danced, chanted and waved banners denouncing the coup.
Source: New York Times
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