HAITIÂÂ27/2/2004Â20:21
CRISIS: PORT-AU-PRINCE UNDER SEIGE, PARIS MEETS WITH ARISTIDE ENVOYS
âThe French government today receive the representatives of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Paris, France, to seek a solution to the serious crisis devastating Haiti. I can testify that the Foreign Minister Joseph Philippe Antonio, the head of the presidential cabinet Jean-Claude Desgranges and the Minister of Culture and Information Mrs. Lilas Desquiron, were received by French Foreign Minister Dominique del Villepinâ. This was the news declared to MISNA by the Minister of Haitians abroad, Leslie Voltaire. In a statement of the Quai dâOrsay, De Villepin affirmed that the French government will continue seeking âa political solutionâ to the Haitian crisis, but accused President Aristide of âserious responsibilities in the developments of the situationâ, inviting him to âassume the consequencesâ. France therefore diplomatically invited Aristide to resign, before the nation transforms into a trap without escape. The French foreign ministry also urged the opposition to come to Paris in search of a diplomatic resolution to the crisis. French official sources refer that representatives of the political opposition were not able to find a flight to take them from Port-au-Prince to Paris. Civil society sources had confirmed this difficulty to MISNA; Minister Voltaire however told MISNA over the phone that she believed that âthe opposition used the impossibility of fining a flight as a pretextâ, particularly due to its reluctance to negotiate. Meanwhile, all access routes to the Haitian capital are blocked by Aristideâs supporters. At any moment the 2.5-million residents of the capital are expecting the attack of the armed rebels, headed by the former soldier and police officer Guy Philippe, which in the meantime has seized another city in the northern sector of the nation, Mirebalais, situated around 50km north of Port-au-Prince. âNo one can leave their homes to go to work because the city is entirely barricadedâ, referred a MISNA source contacted in the north of the capital. âIt is also impossible to go shopping and we are consuming our few food provisions.
The circulation of basic necessities has become impossible and the people are forced to lie of small tradeâ, explained the source, adding âwe are very afraid of what may occur. We all hope in a political solution, or we fear it could turn into a bloodbathâ. In this regard, Aristideâs loyalists expressed themselves ready to ensure that the Head of State remains in his post, even to the point of resorting to force against the foreigners present in Port-au-Prince.
âWe will kill anyone living in Haiti and burn their embassiesâ, threatened in a declaration to the German âDPAâ press agency an Aristide supporter, in reference to French, Canadians and Americans, authors of the peace plan accepted by the government and rejected by the opposition. The French Embassy in Port-au-Prince denied ever having heard such a statement by a supporter of the Head of State. Minister Voltaire declared to MISNA to ânot have personally heard the threats, but that if they were made it is a horrible thingâ.
The militias (âChimÃresâ) armed by Aristide seem to have already entered in action. The bodies of three men, with shots to the head, were found in the suburban neighbourhoods of Poupelard and Christ-Roi. Like in Port-au-Prince, tension is escalating also in other cities.
According to âRadio MÃtropoleâ, in Cayes, third city of the nation, a former soldier assumed the command of a group of men that yesterday set fire to the local police headquarters, freeing the detained prisoners. Meanwhile, a MISNA source referred that the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic has been reopened.
Humanitarian sources in the bordering nation refer that some committees for Dominican solidarity in favour of the Haitian population have been set up, while also fifty-some Catholic and humanitarian NGOâs (Non-Governmental Organisation) have gathered together to seek a solution to the crisis afflicting neighbouring Haiti.
[BO]
"The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the state."
- Dr. Joseph M. Goebbels - Hitler's propaganda minister
