22608: (Chamberlain) Aristide's party may boycott Haiti ballot (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, July 2 (Reuters) - Members of the Lavalas
Family political party of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said on
Friday they would boycott next year's scheduled elections unless Aristide
returns by then.
     Aristide supporters picketed in front of the U.S. Embassy in
Port-au-Prince to call for Aristide's repatriation and to denounce
Washington's hand in what they called the "kidnapping of Aristide and a
coup d'etat against democracy in Haiti."
     The protest took place under the watchful eyes of Brazilian troops,
who blocked access to the embassy, while a few U.S. marines stood guard on
the roof.
     Brazil recently took over from the United States as head of the United
Nations peacekeeping force sent to restore order after Aristide's
departure. Brazil has many fans among Haiti's soccer enthusiasts, who
welcomed Brazilian troops.
     At the protest, an Aristide supporter waved a Brazilian flag in one
hand and a Haitian flag in the other, chanting "Brazil and Aristide for
ever." Protest leader Lesly Fareau wore a T-shirt with a photo of Brazilian
soccer star Ronaldo.
     Ronaldo and his national side are scheduled to travel to Haiti in
August to play a friendly soccer match where Haitians are invited to
exchange their guns for tickets to attend.
     Aristide, who was accused by his opponents of corruption and human
rights abuses, fled the country on Feb. 29 amid an armed revolt and U.S.
and French pressure to quit.
     He claimed he was abducted at gunpoint by U.S. security agents and
forced to leave, a charge the United States has denied. Washington said
Aristide left voluntarily to avoid a bloodbath."
     "We are ready to go to election and teach a lesson to the enemies of
democracy, but Aristide has to be back first," Lesly Gustave, one of the
protest organizers, told Reuters.
     Aristide is exiled in South Africa and his supporters have urged the
United Nations and the Organization of American States to return him to his
troubled Caribbean homeland.
     "If they don't want him to come back as president, Aristide has a
right to come back as a citizen and we'll vote him in again," said Jobnel
Francisque, 28.
     Haitian interim authorities have completed the electoral council that
will organize local, legislative and presidential elections in 2005.
     Aristide's party declined to designate a representative to the
council, insisting the government must first stop arbitrary arrests and
persecution of party members and lift a travel ban that keeps dozens of
Aristide allies from leaving the country.
     A ninth member of the electoral council was sworn in on Thursday,
eliminating all possibility for Lavalas to change its mind and choose a
representative to the nine-member panel.
     The council is now made up entirely of Lavalas opponents, which some
analysts said puts the electoral process under a cloud.
     However, said Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, "If a party
decides to exclude itself, there is nothing the government can do."