18120: (Chamberlain) Haiti's Aristide agrees to meet opposition (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Amy Bracken

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Responding to peace-making
efforts from Caribbean leaders, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Sunday
agreed to meet with Haiti's opposition to try to ease an increasingly
violent standoff.
     But it was unclear whether his foes -- a disparate coalition of
businessmen, church and civic groups, political opponents and students --
would also agree to the meeting being brokered by the Caribbean Community
regional bloc.
     The potential encounter in Kingston, Jamaica, would take place "some
time in the very near future," said Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie,
representing CARICOM.
     Christie was in Haiti for talks with Aristide after the Caribbean
group met the president's opponents in the Bahamas to try and halt the
further descent of the poorest nation of the Americas into confrontation
and bloodshed.
     Aristide, who recently called for new elections within six months,
said at a news conference on Sunday that he accepted CARICOM's invitation
to the talks in Jamaica.
     "I will be with you in Kingston, Jamaica, (where I hope) all of my
brothers and sisters of the opposition, civil society and Lavalas (ruling
party) will work toward a solution because that solution is indispensable
to the future of Haiti," he said.
     Dozens have died in clashes between protesters who have been taking to
the streets in increasing numbers and armed Aristide supporters. Both sides
blame each other for the violence, but most attacks appear to be carried
out by backers of the president.
     A former Roman Catholic priest, Aristide became Haiti's first
democratically elected leader. A coup, U.S. invasion and re-election later,
his popularity has waned amid allegations of corruption and political
thuggery.
     The crux of the standoff with the opposition is a disputed
parliamentary election in 2000, the year of Aristide's re-election. The
impasse has prevented a new ballot from taking place and the terms of most
Haitian legislators expired this month, immobilizing parliament.
     The opposition, which has rejected Aristide's call for new elections
because it said conditions did not exist for a free and fair vote, did not
immediately respond to the talks proposal.
     At the meeting last week with opposition leaders in the Bahamas,
CARICOM presented a proposal in which it called on the Haitian government
to disarm gangs and allow free and safe demonstrations.
     Members of the opposition broadly mistrust the Caribbean group, but
many came away from the Bahamas meeting feeling that it had become an ally.