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Global News Wire - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire
Copyright 2004 BBC Monitoring/BBC
BBC Monitoring International Reports
April 16, 2004
LENGTH: 976 words
HEADLINE: HAITI: PREMIER INTERVIEWED ON ELECTIONS, FOREIGN AID, FRANCE, ARISTIDE, CARICOM
BODY:
subheadings inserted editorially
We are going to share with you an excerpt from an interview which Prime Minister Gerard Latortue gave to Radio France Internationale (RFI) this morning in which he spoke about elections, relations with the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and also the issue concerning the status of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
The following is an excerpt from the interview.
(Latortue - recording) The elections will take place in the course of 2005.
(Unidentified RFI journalist) All right.
(Latortue) The new president will be sworn in no later than 7 February 2006.
(RFI journalist) Will you stand in the elections?
(Latortue) No, not at all. My job will end the day of the installation of the next legislature, as long as there is a majority. Then I shall be ready to step down immediately. If not, I shall step down during the investiture of the new president of the republic, which will take place no later than 7 February. Actually, we are going to see if it would be possible for this new president to take office before that date.
(RFI journalist) Will you have time to carry out a census before the elections?
(Latortue) As you know, it is a long operation. And I do not think that we shall have time to do it. Everything is ready, apart from the Lavalas Family (FL) party, which has not yet submitted the name of its representative to the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP). They are making a fuss about it. But in any case, the law authorizes me to make the necessary decision if they do not submit the name of their representative by the end of this week.
The executive branch will make the necessary decision and get somebody else to fill the gap. Besides, we cannot let them hold the country hostage and I want to start the electoral process as soon as possible so that the country may return to a constitutional normality as soon as possible.
International aid
(RFI journalist) Apparently, Colin Powell has not increased US aid to Haiti. It should be 20m dollars less compared with what was granted to Haiti last year. Are you going to ask (French Defence Minister) Madame (Michele) Alliot-Marie for some financial assistance?
(Lartortue) Actually, we are asking all the partners of Haiti for financial support. What we really need now - while waiting for intervention by the international community, which will not happen before June, after the meeting with the international financing organizations - is budget support. And we may be able to get that only through bilateral aid.
"Restitution" issue with France a thing of the past
I shall have the opportunity to meet the (French) minister but what is essential now is for us to renew our relations with France on the basis of mutual cooperation, and especially to make them forget the past two years, when the former Haitian government had only one slogan to shout, which was restitution. That time has passed. And now, together with France, we want to build a new form of cooperation based on mutual trust and respect for each other's interests.
Aristide
(RFI journalist) (Former) President Aristide is in temporary exile in Jamaica and should go to South Africa after that. Will he be allowed to return to Haiti? And if he were authorized to do so, under what conditions?
(Latortue) You know, there are some sectors of the nation that have already demanded the president's extradition for all the crimes that he has committed - economic crimes, as well as murders. So today things seem to be showing more and more that he was the mastermind of all that. Investigations are under way and I believe that Mr Aristide, like any other citizen, will be subject to the rigour of the law. This time, we just cannot miss the occasion to ask a former Haitian leader to give accounts of all the acts he committed. We cannot fail to get Mr Aristide to give accounts for having looted the state's money in the way he did.
(RFI journalist) Do you confirm his involvement in drug trafficking?
(Latortue) I cannot confirm it, because I do not have all the elements of proof. But there seems to be evidence that, at one time or another, he took part in giving a right of way to drug trafficking in Haiti. Of course, this is something that concerns the judicial authorities.
Relations between Haiti and Caricom
(RFI journalist) Just one last thing that concerns relations between Haiti and Caricom. Relations between Haiti and the other Caribbean countries are extremely poor. You suspended relations with Jamaica. Is there a possibility that these relations will be restored soon?
(Latortue) First of all, Madame, you said that the relations are extremely poor. I believe that the word extremely is extreme. You spoke of a rupture of relations with Jamaica. This is not true. I never broke off or even suspended them. I only recalled my ambassador to Jamaica after the Haitian government considered unfriendly the act of the Jamaican authorities in allowing Aristide to come to Jamaica soon after his departure, while Mr Aristide still considered himself president of Haiti. And indeed, the day that Aristide leaves Jamaica, I shall then authorize my ambassador to return to Jamaica.
On the contrary, I even want to take the initiative today. For example, the Haitian Rotary members have decided to boycott the meeting of Rotary International that will be held in Jamaica. But I want to write to the Haitian Rotary Club to ask them not to boycott Jamaica. I have spent all my life working in favour of regional cooperation. It is practically a paradox for me to see that such a thing should take place under my government. As far as we in Haiti are concerned, we do not have anything against Caricom, as an institution.
Source: Radio Metropole, Port-au-Prince, in French 1145 gmt 15 Apr 04
) BBC Monitoring
JOURNAL-CODE: WBMS
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