Haiti deadline
2004-02-21 12:03
Port-au-Prince - International mediators have given embattled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Haiti's political opposition three days to accept a peace plan aimed at ending the country's increasingly violent political crisis.
Sources say diplomats from the United States, Canada, France, the Caribbean Community and the Organisation of American States delivered the ultimatum to Aristide and opposition leader Andre Aped in meetings on Friday.
Higher-level diplomats from the plan's sponsors were to arrive to reinforce the urgency of that message amid growing fears the western hemisphere's poorest country might succumb to anarchy.
The political impasse has been exacerbated by a two-week-old insurgency that has killed at least 57, left dozens wounded and marred the upcoming carnival festivities.
Armed anti-Aristide rebels now in control of the north-western city of Gonaives vowed meanwhile to attack the nearby municipality of Saint Marc and Cap Haitien, the nation's second-largest city, unless the president resigns.
Police abandon posts
In the face of such threats, members of Haiti's poorly trained and ill-equipped police force -- numbering just 5 000 in a country of 8.3 million -- have abandoned their posts in at least four other towns, resulting in looting and arson.
The increasing chaos prompted Canada to join the United States in urging its nationals to leave Haiti as soon as possible. A steady stream of Canadians and Americans, mainly aid workers and missionaries, crowded the capital's Toussaint l'Overture International Airport seeking departing flights.
The international peace plan would require Aristide, a former Catholic priest, to cede significant powers, including control of the police, to a new government, but remain in office until his current term ends in 2006, according to diplomatic sources. Aristide has repeatedly rejected calls to resign.
- SAPA