a1410: BBC: Aristide urges vigilance while he is out of country (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>



Haiti: President urges his supporters to remain vigilant
while he is in Mexico
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Mar 22, 2002



Text of report by Haitian Metropole radio on 21 March;
passages within double oblique strokes in Creole

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is out of the country
until Saturday [23 March]. He has gone to attend the UN
summit in Monterrey, Mexico. Before leaving the country,
Aristide asked his partisans to remain vigilant while
avoiding provocation. Wendell Theodore reports the
following:

[Theodore - recording] It was while leaving the country on
Wednesday that the head of state revealed his real
intentions when he gave an assurance that the country had a
new government. The president took the opportunity while at
the national airport to thank all those who contributed to
facilitate the taking of office of the new governmental
team before his trip abroad. Aristide says that peace
should be maintained while he is away and that it should be
protected at any cost.

[Aristide] //I thank very much, in advance, each and every
one of you who will continue to protect the peace.//

[Theodore] His trip to Monterrey coincides with the
gathering that the Convergence has announced for this
Friday [22 March]. Although Aristide has requested the
members of people's organizations [OP] to remain vigilant,
he wants them at the same time to remain calm. Perhaps he
was thinking about the first attack against the premises of
the Democratic Convergence exactly a year ago. The head of
state asked OP members to avoid provocation. He also
appears to count on the people's maturity and intelligence.

[Aristide] //I want all people's organizations to remain
vigilant. You must find out where there is provocation so
that you may not fall into it. I want you all to let the
light of intelligence shine all the time I am away, day and
night, so you may detect where the darkness of provocation
is. Then you will not fall into provocation and will
prevent yourself from being caught up in it. Your maturity
should allow you to remain calm while being watchful so
that when I return on Saturday we may share the same
embrace of happiness, because we shall need peace.//

[Theodore] The head of state was very careful to remind
everyone that the constitution guarantees the right to hold
meetings, the right to free speech and that nobody should
be opposed to that. He wants his partisans to remain
vigilant and to let him take care of the serious
responsibilities.

[Aristide] //I want you to leave the heavy loads to me to
take care of. I do not want them to carry the heavy load.
For, when they and I carry the heavy loads together they
become lighter. The constitution acknowledges the right of
everybody and organizations to speak freely and as they
want to, and to hold meetings when they want to, within
respect for the law and of everyone.//

[Theodore] The president of the republic left the country
for Mexico where he will attend the UN conference on
[financing] development. Aristide promises to discuss with
other world leaders the possibilities of finding financing
to facilitate the country's development. He said that he
was counting on everybody to maintain a peaceful climate
until he returns on Saturday.

Source: Radio Metropole, Port-au-Prince, in French 1145 gmt
21 Mar 02

/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.

All Material Subject to Copyright



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