By Jenni Campbell, Managing EditorHAITI WILL renew diplomatic relations with Jamaica immediately after deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide leaves the island.
Interim Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue told The Gleaner in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Saturday that he has no problem with Jamaica and wants "things to return to normal in the shortest possible time".
"When Aristide leaves Jamaica, it will all be over and I will ask our ambassador to return to Jamaica," Mr. Latortue said. This return, the Haitian leader said, could happen as soon as this week. His comment was based on information reaching his office that Mr. Aristide will leave Jamaica in a few days.
In explaining the withdrawal of diplomatic relations, Mr. Latortue said this was done as he was not comfortable with the presence of the Haitian ambassador on the island during Mr. Aristide's visit.
REGIONAL BODY
According to Mr. Latortue, the question of any stand off between Haiti and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and Haiti and Jamaica, is all in the past. He said that Haiti needs to be a part of the regional body if it is going to develop.
Bent on pulling his strife-torn nation out of the quagmire of bloody revolts and political and economic polarisation, Mr. Latortue sees links with CARICOM as a ray of hope for his country dubbed the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.
"What is true is that without Haiti, CARICOM cannot represent the entire region, because Haiti, with nearly eight million people, represents some 60 per cent of the people living in the Caribbean," the Prime Minister argued.
Yesterday, Senator Delano Franklyn, Jamaica's Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, told The Gleaner that Jamaica's position as it relates to the interim administration in Haiti is no different from the position of CARICOM.
"CARICOM has agreed that the issue of relations with the interim administration would be the subject of constant review and the subject of a review whenever they meet," he emphasised. The regional heads are expected to meet in early July for their annual summit.
"They will continue to discuss the issue of Haiti, and I am sure that in discussing Haiti, the heads will take into consideration any new development inclusive of any new communication they would have received from Mr. Latortue," said Senator Franklyn.
Haiti's interim Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Danielle St. Lot, said Haiti must work with CARICOM as "we are not French, we don't speak English, we have to be part of the network."
However, Mr. Latortue remains critical of how his country was introduced to CARICOM. Describing it as "one man's' affiliation with the regional organisation", he said there is little information available in Haiti about CARICOM's policies and processes. "I did not like the way Aristide became a member of CARICOM. Nobody knows about the process that brought us to CARICOM," he emphasised.
The Gleaner was told that much of the records in the Presidential Palace in Haiti was destroyed on the departure of President Aristide. Aristide became Haiti's first freely-elected leader in 1991 but was forced to leave the country after a coup. He returned to power by a US-led intervention in 1994. He won a second term in 2000.
