[R-G] Jean-Bertrand Aristide remains potent force in Haiti

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.miamiherald.com/582/story/928042.html

Posted on Sun, Mar. 01, 2009
Jean-Bertrand Aristide remains potent force in Haiti
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
Five years after he fled into exile amid a bloody revolt, former  
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is continuing to cast a long  
shadow over Haiti's political landscape.

His reemergence as a central figure in Haiti's political future comes  
as the once all-powerful Fanmi Lavalas political party seems to be  
imploding amid an internal power struggle over which competing faction  
has the right to lead in Aristide's absence.

The internal dispute boiled over into Haiti's larger political debate  
last month when Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council -- presented  
with two competing slates of Lavalas candidates for the upcoming April  
19 parliamentary elections -- disqualified all 16 office-seekers from  
across the country who had registered for the 12 senate seats under  
the Lavalas banner.

The electoral council's explanation for the disqualifications:  
According to Lavalas bylaws, the party's national representative --  
Aristide -- must sanction candidates.

Others, including some Lavalas leaders, disagree. They say the  
council's ruling is a pretext to keep the party, which boycotted the  
2006 presidential and legislative elections, from getting a foothold  
in President René Préval's government.

The matter has confused and confounded even loyal Lavalas supporters,  
who have publicly criticized each other.

CENTER STAGE

The election exclusion has placed Aristide at the crux of the debate,  
and stirred concerns within the international community that banning  
Haiti's most popular and biggest political party from the vote could  
lead to contested elections and provoke a repeat of the political  
crisis that led to the 2004 rebellion and Aristide's ultimate  
departure to South Africa.

''Throughout Haiti's history, Haiti has had leaders who have either  
fled or been placed in exile. It seems to me that Aristide's shelf  
life is surprising everybody, compared to what has happened with other  
leaders,'' said Robert Maguire, U.S. Institute of Peace Jennings  
Randolph senior fellow and director of the Haiti Study Program at  
Trinity University.

''In part it's because under René Préval, you've had improvements in  
security and kind of less-overt political conflicts. But you haven't  
had improvements in people's personal and economic well-being,''  
Maguire said. ``For some in Haiti, Aristide apparently still holds  
promise.''

On Saturday, several thousand Aristide supporters blanketed the  
streets of Port-au-Prince to commemorate the five-year anniversary of  
his ouster.

As they chanted and waved signs demanding his return from exile in  
Pretoria, South Africa, 7,393 miles away, they also for the first time  
added a new request: the inclusion of Fanmi Lavalas in the April  
elections to fill 12 seats in the 30-member Senate.

GLOBAL ATTENTION

The credibility of the elections is of such importance that it is  
expected to top the agenda of several planned high-profile visits to  
Haiti in the coming weeks. Among those expected to visit: former  
President Bill Clinton, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and members  
of the U.N. Security Council.

The fear, say Haiti observers, is that contested elections or those  
that erupt into violence could negatively affect storm-battered  
Haiti's efforts to maintain strong and increasing international  
support for reconstruction, development and governance.

''That is why it's important for this issue to be resolved in a way  
that most people in Haiti and most observers are comfortable there is  
going to be an inclusive election,'' said Mark Schneider of the  
International Crisis Group, a nonprofit that analyzes conflict in  
Haiti and elsewhere around the world.

And as the international community pushes for the inclusion of  
Lavalas, in Haiti, the talk turns to Aristide.

Some have seized on the exclusion explanation offered by the electoral  
council, known by the French acronym CEP, to demand Aristide's return  
-- so that he can formally sanction those seeking office under the  
Lavalas banner.

''It's clear there is more discussion now about Aristide because of  
the CEP's need to require Aristide to take some action to validate one  
or another set of candidates,'' said Schneider. ``Were the CEP to  
recognize the [Fanmi Lavalas] candidates it registered in December, or  
some other slate, immediately the issue of Aristide would diminish.''

So far, few here know what to make of the squabbling, including  
whether the elections, which is expected to cost $16 million, will be  
postponed. Some are hoping that the electoral council, which has yet  
to order the ballots or come up with a final budget, will reverse  
itself and allow Lavalas to participate.

But then the question becomes: Which Lavalas?

The party today is being led by at least two factions: One is led by  
Lavalas Senator Rudy Hériveaux and Aristide spokeswoman Dr. Maryse  
Narcisse of the Fanmi Lavalas Executive Committee. The other involves  
a 27-member coalition whose most high-profile supporter is former  
Aristide Prime Minister Yvon Neptune.

Narcisse, who is reportedly in South Africa meeting with Aristide, has  
insisted that she has the right to nominate the 12 candidates she  
registered on behalf of Lavalas.

She also points out she was the first to register her slate and the  
registration was recognized by the CEP in December. Neptune disagrees,  
and his group turned in its own list of candidates weeks later. A  
third faction, led by several Lavalas senators, also handed in a list  
of candidates.

''This is a very tricky situation,'' Neptune told The Miami Herald.

``On the one hand, the electoral council, and I would even say the  
government, hasn't been doing what they are supposed to do to  
accommodate Fanmi Lavalas. At the same time, Fanmi Lavalas has a lot  
of problems on its own.''

In a wide-ranging interview at his home overlooking the hills of Port- 
au-Prince, Neptune downplayed his role in the faction, saying he's  
there as a founding member to help reorganize the splintered party;  
dismissed the executive committee Aristide reportedly left in charge  
of Fanmi Lavalas as ''illegal;'' and questioned the motives of  
Narcisse and others.

But Neptune's critics question his motives and loyalty, viewing him as  
a traitor to Aristide who helped Canada, France and the U.S.  
governments put in place an interim government in the wake of  
Aristide's Feb. 29, 2004, departure.

''I did not stay in office to please anybody or to be utilized by  
anybody,'' he said, dismissing claims that he was pressured to do the  
international community's bidding. ``I did what I believed was the  
proper thing to do so that indiscriminate killings would not happen  
because that was in the planning. Indiscriminate killings.  
Indiscriminate burnings.''