[R-G] Jean-Bertrand Aristide remains potent force in Haiti
Anthony Fenton
fentona at shaw.ca
Mon Mar 2 08:45:56 MST 2009
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.''
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