THIRD REPORT OF THE MISSION OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES TO HAITI

VISIT OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL TO HAITI

February 6-10, 2001

I. SUMMARY INTRODUCTION

This report is submitted following an oral report made by the Assistant Secretary General to the Permanent Council on February 28, 2001. It covers the February 6-10, 2001 visit which the Assistant Secretary General paid to Haiti on the occasion of the assumption of office of President Jean Bertrand Aristide and subsequent developments. Its purpose is to provide information that will be useful to the Permanent Council in its consideration of the agenda item on Haiti on March 14, 2001.

II. THE OAS AND HAITI’S ELECTIONS IN 2000

The Elections of May 21, 2000

At a special meeting held on July 13, 2000, the Permanent Council noted with concern the conclusions of the Report of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission which observed the May 21, 2000 legislative, municipal and local elections held in Haiti to resolve a political impasse which stemmed from flawed elections three years earlier. That report had noted that the registration of voters was successful, despite serious administrative and logistical problems and that on election day the level of participation and the orderliness of the exercise were notable achievements. However, major irregularities following the closure of the polls seriously compromised the integrity and credibility of the election. One of the most serious flaws highlighted by the Mission was that the method of calculation of percentages of votes secured by certain senatorial candidates was not in accordance with the Constitution and Electoral Law of Haiti. The Report is contained in document CP/doc. 3383/00. After the May 21 elections, the opposition parties within the Convergence Démocratique called for their annulment and for new elections to be held under a new Provisional Electoral Council, and asked that President Préval resign and that a provisional government be installed. In addition, the President of the CEP, M. Léon Manus, left the country after refusing to validate the final results and was replaced.

The OAS Mission to Haiti

By Resolution CP/RES.772 of August 4, 2000 the Secretary General was mandated to “identify together with the Government of Haiti and other sectors of the political community and civil society, options and recommendations for resolving, as expeditiously as possible, difficulties such as those which have arisen from differing interpretations of the electoral law, and for further strengthening democracy in that country”. In keeping with this resolution, the Secretary General visited Haiti from 17-20 August 2000. The Assistant Secretary General then visited Haiti from 15 to 16 September 2000, from 21-29 September 2000 and from 13 to 21 October 2000. The October visit, which led to face-to-face dialogue for the first time between representatives of Fanmi Lavalas and the Convergence Démocratique, was suspended on October 20, since there had not been consensus broad enough to achieve the initial OAS objective, namely the negotiation of a national accord among all parties that would resolve the political crisis in a manner that would elicit the support of the international community. Reports on these visits are contained in documents CP/doc 3349/00 and 3371/00.

The Elections of November 26, 2000

In keeping with the timetable established by the Constitution of Haiti, but without any correction of particular deficiencies identified in the May 21 elections, elections for President and nine Senators took place on November 26, 2000. The candidates for President were Jean Bertrand Aristide and six members of lesser known Opposition parties and Independents. Continuing to call for the annulment of the May 21 elections, the parties comprising the Convergence Démocratique refused to participate in the November 26 elections which it described as illegal. As was to be expected, M. Jean Bertrand Aristide emerged winner of the Presidential elections. The official reporting by the Provisional Electoral Council of a 60% voter turn-out was contested by the Opposition and by some foreign groups present in Haiti on that occasion. Of note was the symbolic presence of a small delegation representing the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) headed by a former Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Sir John Compton.

The OAS did not observe the November 26 elections. In a Press Release issued on November 27, the Organization indicated that the decision of the Haitian authorities to proceed with the elections on November 26 despite the absence of the national accord which the Organization had advocated, avoided an interruption in the timetable for presidential succession established by the Constitution of Haiti, but did not alter the need to ensure the broad political representation and citizen participation critical to the development of Haitian democracy. The OAS also indicated its readiness, in keeping with its Charter obligations, to assist the government and the social and political forces of Haiti in their efforts to strengthen democratic institutions and to contribute to an environment of peace and security in the country.

III. THE SEARCH FOR OPENINGS

Before the Assistant Secretary General had suspended the dialogue involving the Fanmi Lavalas and the Convergence Démocratique on October 20, 2000, he had distributed a Paper entitled “Elements of Reflection regarding the components of a National Agreement” on which he had received comments both from the Fanmi Lavalas and the Convergence Démocratique. That paper was broadly based and was intended to cover a wide range of issues vital to the strengthening of democracy in Haiti. Copy thereof is attached as Appendix I.

On November 9, 2000, the United Nations Secretary General recommended to the UN General Assembly that in light of the political turmoil and instability in the country, a renewal of the mandate of the UN International Civilian Support Mission in Haiti (MICAH) was not advisable and recommended that the Mission be terminated when its mandate drew to an end on February 6 2001.

Following a visit to Haiti by U.S. emissaries, President-elect Aristide communicated with US President Clinton by a letter dated December 27, 2000 (copy attached at Appendix II) which contained a list of eight commitments which Mr. Aristide declared his intention to implement. Although OAS representatives did not participate in these talks, the fifth commitment referred to: “Strengthen(ing) democratic institutions and protection of human rights through the establishment of a semi-permanent OAS commission to facilitate dialogue among Haitian political, civic and business leaders and through international monitoring of the protection of human rights.” The OAS reiterated the bilateral nature of these commitments to the Haitian authorities. The commitments were subsequently presented to the OAS as a basis for attempts to resolve the political crisis, as will be seen later in this report.

On January 4, 2001 President Préval wrote the Secretary General inviting him to attend the February 7, 2001 ceremony marking the inauguration of President Aristide. This was followed by a visit to OAS headquarters on January 12 by Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis who met with the Assistant Secretary General (and by a January 16 letter from Foreign Minister Longchamp to the Assistant Secretary General inviting him to attend the assumption of office of the President-elect on February 7).

The Prime Minister advised on initiatives taken since the October visit to Haiti of the Assistant Secretary General, to include the appointment of a Commission of Jurists (headed by Me. Gary Lissade) by the President-elect “to examine the question of the May 21 elections.” The Prime Minister also referred to the letter of December 27, 2000 from the President-elect to the President of the U.S.A. containing the set of eight commitments which the writer was disposed to implement. The Prime Minister invited the OAS to send a mission to Haiti to revitalize the dialogue which had been suspended the previous October, so as to reach a consensus on the pending issues identified in the document entitled "Elements of reflection regarding the Components of a National Agreement” which was contained in CP/doc. 3371/00. The Prime Minister also raised the possibility of financing for political parties and expressed the Government’s wish to see the establishment of an OAS Commission in Haiti to assist with democracy-building in keeping with resolution 772.

Subsequently, in a letter to the Secretary General dated January 17, 2001, President Préval referred to the visit of Prime Minister Alexis to the OAS, expressed the conviction that “the OAS could usefully assist Haiti by accompanying (the country) in its efforts to consolidate democratic institutions and respect for human rights” and invited the Organization to begin discussions to this end.

Later, on January 31, 2001, the Assistant Secretary General received, at their request, a five-member delegation of members of the Convergence Démocratique who stressed the fact-finding nature of their visit to Washington. The delegation also explained that since in their view the November 26 elections were constitutionally illegal, they intended to proceed with the plan which they had announced in the context of a General Assembly (Etats Généraux) held in Port-au-Prince on January 27, to ensure the transition process at the end of President Préval’s mandate on February 7 by appointing a Provisional Government.

On February 2, the Secretary General requested the Assistant Secretary General to represent him on the occasion of the assumption of office of the new President; to use his presence in Haiti to keep the lines of communication open to all interested parties; and to assess whether conditions were met for the Secretary General to recommend other measures which may be deemed necessary to strengthen democracy in Haiti, in keeping with Resolution 772.

In this connection, some further detail on the dialogue initiative proposed by members of the country’s civil society is necessary to understand the context in which the Assistant Secretary General arrived in Haiti in February 2001.

Civil Society Initiative

In mid-January 2001, leading members of the private sector and civil society took an important initiative signaling increased willingness on their part to participate in resolving the country’s political difficulties. Their hope was to conclude a political accord bridging the Eight point commitment (contained in President-elect Aristide’s December 27, 2000 letter to U.S. President Clinton) and the Proposal of the Convergence Démocratique for the Formation of a Provisional Government as the basis for negotiations. The immediate objective was to rectify the problems associated with the elections of 2000 with a view to restoring credibility to the electoral process and to prevent the crisis from degenerating into further chaos and anarchy. Broader objectives were to protect the integrity of the political institutions, encourage political pluralism, promote democratic values and to create a climate conducive to investment and economic development. It is to be noted that during the meetings which he held with them in October, 2000 the Assistant Secretary General had proposed to his civil society interlocutors that they engage in support of this kind of dialogue. The participants in the dialogue were the principal protagonists – Fanmi Lavalas and Convergence Démocratique, a Commission of Facilitation of the Civil Society Initiative and the Representative of the OAS in Haiti, with the latter two serving as facilitators.

The principal protagonists reached understanding on the process of the dialogue in a Protocol which outlined, inter alia, the objectives of the dialogue and the agenda for the negotiations. That Protocol was signed on February 3 by representatives of Fanmi Lavalas and Convergence Démocratique in the presence of their leaders, members of the Commission of Facilitation and the diplomatic corps, at the Apostolic Nunciature. The dialogue began at Hotel El Rancho on February 4, in the presence of national and international observers and continued at the Apostolic Nunciature, in a climate of mutual mistrust regarding the motives and intentions of both sides and apprehensions regarding the motives of the principal facilitators.

The Fanmi Lavalas representatives tabled the 8 commitments expressed in the December 27, 2000 letter from the incoming President of Haiti to the outgoing President of the United States of America (and which, as previously indicated, were confirmed subsequently by Prime Minister Alexis on January 12 and by the Interim Representative of Haiti to the OAS during a Permanent Council meeting on January 18, 2001). For their part, the Convergence Démocratique representatives continued to insist on the annulment of the elections of May 21 and November 26, and on broad powersharing arrangements for the Opposition in the government. The Convergence Démocratique presented a 17-point document entitled “Proposed Political Accord to End the Crisis and Strengthen Democracy” of which a copy is attached at Appendix III. The dialogue initiative broke down in the wee hours of the morning of February 6.

Meetings held over the period February 6-10, 2001

February 6

Against this unsettled background, the Assistant Secretary General arrived in Haiti within hours of the breakdown of the civil society dialogue initiative on February 6. He met on that day with President-elect Aristide and with leaders of the civil society groups which had organized the dialogue initiative. In his meeting with the Convergence Démocratique, a request was made for the OAS to form part of “a security shield around the Haitian opposition”. That very day, the Convergence proclaimed Me. Gérard Gourgue “Provisional President of the Government of Consensus and National Union, whose mission would be to organize democratic elections in Haiti as soon as possible”.

February 7 (Inaugural Events)

The Assistant Secretary General attended the swearing-in of President Aristide in the Palais Legislatif; the Te Deum held at the Port-au-Prince cathedral during which Msgr. Hubert Constant, Bishop of Fort Liberté and President of the Episcopal Conference of Haiti, delivered a stirring homily outlining the ills besetting the Haitian society which the Government of the new President had to address; the cultural performances at the Presidential Palace, following which President Aristide delivered a Message to the Nation in which he outlined his development plans for stability and economic improvement, extended “an olive branch to the Opposition” and committed to be “the President of all Haitians, without exception.” A copy of this statement was circulated to OAS member states at the request of the Permanent Mission of Haiti to the OAS in document CP/INF. 4480/01.

The inaugural events provided an opportunity for wide contacts with foreign representatives to the inauguration events, including those of CARICOM, whose delegation was led by the Hon. Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize and included the Assistant Secretary General of the CARICOM Secretariat; special representatives of OAS member states, with particular reference to those of Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico and Panama; a delegation from Taiwan and with the former President of Venezuela, Carlos Andres Perez.

A meeting was also held that evening with the Apostolic Nuncio (Msgr. Luigi Bonazzi), the Archbishop of Port-au-Prince (Archbishop Serge Miot), the President of the Episcopal Conference of Haiti (Msgr. Hubert Constant) and the Representative of the U.N. Secretary General (Ambassador Alfredo Cabral).

February 8 –9

During this two-day period, the Assistant Secretary General attended a meeting hosted by the Ambassador of France with the representatives of the United Nations’ Secretary General’s Group of Friends of Haiti, the Ambassadors of Argentina, Chile, France, Germany, Venezuela, and of the United States of America, the Counsellor of the Embassy of Canada and the Representatives of the United Nations Secretary General and of the United Nations Development Program.

He met with business leaders, with representatives of the civil society dialogue initiative and with other concerned citizens. He had a working dinner with leaders of the Convergence Démocratique who echoed their continuing scepticism concerning the intentions of President Aristide and the Fanmi Lavalas party, referred to growing incidents of violence against opposition sympathizers, particularly in the countryside, and who expressed the view that widespread repression would now be visited upon all those who opposed the party in power.

The Assistant Secretary General met with President Aristide and Ambassador Joseph Philippe Antonio (whom the President introduced as the future Foreign Minister). The President emphasized his personal desire for dialogue and his determination to implement the 8 commitments, including the strengthening of democratic institutions and protection of human rights through the creation of an OAS commission to facilitate dialogue among Haitian political, civic and business leaders. The President gave some indications as to the persons to be appointed Prime Minister (Jean Marie Chérestal) and Inspector General of the Police.

February 10

Before his departure, the Assistant Secretary General attended a meeting hosted by the Ambassador of Argentina with the representatives of the United Nations’ Secretary General’s Group of Friends of Haiti. Concern was expressed that the UN International Civilian Support Mission in Haiti (MICAH) had officially come to an end and that the Secretary General’s Representative had departed on February 8.

Some developments since February 10, 2001

In New York, USA

On February 12, 2001 the United Nations Security Council issued a statement taking note of the end of the mandate of MICAH and calling upon the agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations, particularly the UNDP to continue to work in close collaboration with the Haitian authorities in order to restructure the police and the justice system and strenghthen human rights. The Security Council also “encouraged the OAS, and particularly its Secretary General, to continue to identify options and recommendations aimed at resolving the current political situation”.

In Bridgetown, Barbados

On February 16, 2001 President Aristide addressed the XII Intersessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM held in Barbados. He assured the Heads of his desire to dialogue with the Opposition in finding a solution to the crisis, of his intention to move towards an open broad-based government to best serve the needs and interests of all Haitians and of his support for the commitments made by his predecessor in a communication to the then Chairman of the CARICOM Conference, confirming the terms and conditions of Haiti’s accession to full membership of CARICOM. He acknowledged, significantly, that “Haiti must pass through negotiations to dissipate the political tensions and trigger the release of international funds which can put in motion our economic policy outlined on February 7 ”.

In Washington, D.C., USA

The OAS has continued to consult widely on the current Haitian situation both within Haiti and beyond, to include Brazil, Canada, the United States, Uruguay, France, CARICOM, the European Union and the United Nations. An informal meeting with representatives of the UN Secretary General’s Group of Friends of Haiti and others, including CARICOM, as well as the Haitian Permanent Mission to the OAS, was held at OAS Headquarters on February 21.

In Haiti

The new Aristide government has moved from words to action on several matters central to the political crisis. On the basis of the report of the Lissade Commission (whose Chair had conveyed to the Assistant Secretary General in February that the Commission had relied heavily on the OAS Electoral Observation Mission Report on the May 21, 2000 Elections) the “voluntary withdrawal of five contested senators of the Fanmi Lavalas party and one independent senator from participation in the work of the Senate in order to facilitate a solution to the crisis” was announced in mid-February.

The entire membership of the CEP has tendered its resignation and a new CEP has been appointed. It is regrettable that these appointments appear to have been made without effective consultation with the Convergence Démocratique. Clearly, the significance of this move will be determined by the degree of consultation and participation achieved in such matters as the timing and modalities of anticipated elections, if any.

Prime Minister Chérestal was confirmed by Haiti’s Parliament on March 1. The Prime Minister’s Cabinet (a list provided by the Permanent Mission of Haiti to the OAS is attached at Appendix IV), which includes persons who are not members of Fanmi Lavalas, was installed on March 2. It is noted that the installation ceremony was attended by only one of the Heads of Mission of the U.N Secretary General’s Group of Friends resident in Haiti, with the others being represented by junior diplomatic officers.

There have been renewed attempts by civil society to resume the dialogue between Fanmi Lavalas and Convergence Démocratique.

On February 27, President Aristide indicated to the Assistant Secretary General that Foreign Minister Antonio would attend the Permanent Council meeting scheduled for March 14, 2001 to address the Council concerning the possibility of establishing a special OAS commission to support democracy in Haiti.

IV. CONCLUSION: CREATING A NEW DYNAMIC BETWEEN HAITI AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

Haiti has taken certain definite steps but much more remains to be done. The steps taken thus far fall short of assuring the strengthening of democracy in Haiti.

As reported by the Assistant Secretary General in November 2000, the international community could make important contributions in response to Haitian efforts to strengthen democracy. Four broad categories of non-economic issues lend themselves to possible support from the OAS. Those issues are dialogue, institutional support, security and strengthening democracy and human rights.

Should an OAS Commission be established, as requested by the Government of Haiti it would be prudent to focus, at least initially, on fresh steps related to political dialogue, perhaps using a format similar to the Dialogue Procedure in Peru involving the government, opposition and civil society, with OAS observers. Should the dialogue begin to bear fruit, the OAS would require the collaboration in critical areas of the United Nations, of the International Financial Institutions and of individual members of the international community.

The General Secretariat expects that the Haitian authorities will shortly define their plans in response to the views and recommendations expressed by the Organization of American States and the international community and indicate how the Organization of American States could be of assistance to the country in attaining the goal of strengthening democracy under these new circumstances.

For such efforts to succeed, the support and participation of all concerned, within Haiti as well as outside of Haiti, will be essential.

The Elections of May 21, 2000

Civil Society Initiative

Meetings held over the period February 6-10, 2001

IV. CONCLUSION: CREATING A NEW DYNAMIC BETWEEN HAITI AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

Reflections regarding the Components of a National Agreement