France campaigns support for new Haiti leader

PARIS, March 17 (AFP) – France on Wednesday called on all United Nations member states to support the new Haitian government, as Jamaica refused to recognise the new authorities in Port-au-Prince.

“The international community now must back the government of national unity that is being formed,” Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin wrote in a commentary published in the newspaper Le Figaro.

“That’s the entire idea behind resolution 1529 adopted by the UN Security Council on the day the former president (Jean-Bertrand Aristide) left the country,” de Villepin said.

“This decision commits all members of the international community to contribute to the restoration of peace in Haiti,” he added.

On February 29, the UN Security Council voted 15-0 to approve the dispatch of a multinational force to restore order in Haiti after Aristide resigned and fled the country in the face of a bloody uprising to oust him.

A spat erupted between Haiti and Jamaica when the government in Kingston agreed to allow Aristide to visit Jamaica in order to see his two daughters, who are currently in the United States.

Jamaica, the current president of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), has refused to recognise the new government of Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue pending a decision from Caricom at a summit scheduled for month’s end.

Jamaican Prime Minister Percival Patterson said Aristide was forced to leave power, a claim made by the former Haitian president himself and vehemently denied by Washington and Paris.

De Villepin said Aristide “announced his resignation on February 29” and fled on his own accord.

Subject: France news