#4329: Arthur forwards news about CEP head (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Charles Arthur <charlesarthur@hotmail.com>

Keywords: Leon Manus, CEP, elections 2000

>From www.chrd.org of 20 June 2000
based on the AHP dispatch of 19 June 2000
Translated from French by Charles Arthur for the Haiti Support Group

Léon Manus - President of the Provisional Electoral Council
(CEP) - has left the country

Mr Léon Manus secretly left the country, across the Dominican border, on 
Saturday 17 June. He is currently in the USA at his daughter's house. The 
six (remaining) members of the CEP have however refused to comment on the 
absence of Manus. They nevertheless maintain that his absence will not in 
the least paralyse the CEP's activities. Manus is still the President of the 
CEP since he has not resigned, indicated one of the CEP members.

Yesterday, Monday, the government commissioner, Wilfred Présent went to the 
headquarters of the CEP to inform himself of the circumstances
of Manus' departure. Wilfrid Présent let it be known that judicial
procedures against Manus would not be started before the conclusion of an 
audit of his management by the Court of Accounts.

Different versions of the disappearance of Léon Manus:

Pressure from the Executive
According to certain sources, the departure of Manus was motivated by the 
fact that he had refused to approve the definitive election
results of 21 May won by Fanmi Lavalas on the basis of the figures provided 
by the CEP.

Pressure from the opposition
According to other trustworthy sources, Manus received threats
designed to dissuade him from signing the definitive election results. In 
this context, he had received anonymous telephone calls late into the night.

Kidnapped???
Jeunesse pouvoir populaire (JPP) considers that Manus has not gone into 
exile since he had not received a safe conduct. According to the
spokesperson for the JPP, René Civil, Léon Manus had instead been kidnapped 
by a sector of the international community. It was, he said, a grave act of 
interference. "In Haiti there is no opposition. There is a sector of the 
international community that tries to set itself up as an opposition", he 
added.
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