NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC:
THE POLITICAL instability in Haiti is expected to dominate discussions when Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council of Foreign Ministers meet here this week.
Authorities in Port-au-Prince have failed to restore law and order since the unrest that led to the ousting of then President Jean Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.
Last week, the United States issued a travel advisory against Haiti and ordered all non-emergency personnel to leave the troubled country.
MAJOR TALKING POINT
Bahamian Foreign Minister, Fred Mitchell, said the matter would also be a major talking point at the Organisation of American States' (OAS) General Assembly in Fort Lauderdale, Florida next week.
"As you have noticed, the U.S. has again asked all its dependents to leave Haiti because of the instability there," Mitchell said.
"So obviously as Ministers meet here this week and next week in Fort Lauderdale, the security situation and whether or not the deadline can be met for these elections in October would certainly be critical."
ELECTIONS
CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington is also concerned that the present situation will affect the elections later this year.
"It is only through the process of reasonably fair elections that Haiti will be able to take its rightful place in the Councils of the Community," Carrington said.
"So it's very important for us that that step be taken, and we're working with the MINUSTAH, the United Nations Mission on Haiti, to try to get that aspect really on track."
Haiti, a member of the CARICOM grouping, has been rocked by violence even before the controversial removal from office of the country's first elected Head of State, Jean Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.
At the Council on Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR), which begins on Tuesday, Barbados' Foreign Minister Dame Billie Miller will hand over the chairmanship to Minister Mitchell.
Mitchell told a news conference here that the issue of a vote at the United Nations regarding Security Council reform on June 18, would also be a major talking point at the meeting.
"The most intense discussions will be about this, whether or not a vote should actually take place on the 18th of June, particularly since our heads of government will not have had a chance to pronounce on what our countries' positions are on these matters until they meet in St Lucia in July."
