By Leonardo Blair, Staff Reporter
Prime Minister P.J. Patterson (second right) leads an emergency meeting on Haiti with CARICOM leaders at Jamaica House yesterday. - Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer
CHAIRMAN OF the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, said yesterday that ousted Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide is 'safe and sound' and was still being housed in the Central African Republic.
Mr. Patterson spoke with reporters after more than five hours of talks with regional leaders and diplomatic representatives of the 15-member CARICOM during an emergency meeting at Jamaica House.
He explained that the ousted President spoke with CARICOM leaders by telephone and assured everyone in attendance that he was in good health.
"We had very constructive discussions during the course of the meeting. The heads of government spoke with President Aristide. He assured us that he is in good physical and mental health," said Mr. Patterson.
The Prime Minister said that contact was also made with South African President Thabo Mbeki, who informed the leaders that he had just returned from a Summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Tripoli, Libya and the OAU had endorsed the CARICOM Plan of Action for Haiti.
Mr. Patterson remained tight-lipped about the circumstances surrounding the ousting of the Haitian ex-president, assuring journalists that the matter would be addressed at a press briefing at Jamaica House this morning. "We are not at liberty to discuss that aspect of it (the meeting)," said Mr. Patterson.
Other leaders were equally tightlipped. "I prefer to make no comment. There are a lot of facts that are still not clear to us," said Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Patrick Manning. "I have nothing to say at this time but it doesn't look good," said Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie.
Other members of the 15-member CARICOM at yesterday's meeting included Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados; Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo and Kenny Anthony, the St. Lucian Prime Minister.
Earlier, Caribbean leaders in separate interviews across the region did not rule out suspending Haiti from the region's political bloc because of the manner in which Aristide was ousted.
"It is too early to make any judgment on what action (we) would take," said CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington. "This is a very difficult period for us and I hope we come through this without any lasting damage to CARICOM."
Haiti joined CARICOM as a full member in 2002. No country has ever been suspended from the body, which was established in 1973.
Meanwhile, the United States administration yesterday rejected bids for power in Haiti by rebels and insisted they lay down their arms and return to their homes.
There is a political process under way to pick up after the departure of Aristide and 'the rebels do not have a role in this process', State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
The U.S. administration, meanwhile, tried to set aside the controversy over Aristide's departure from Haiti, expressing little interest in his claims that he was forced to go into exile by the American military.
"I think the story's been addressed," presidential press secretary Scott McClellan said, referring to emphatic administration denials. "The decision to leave was Mr. Aristide's to make."
Meanwhile, authorities in the Central African Republic have reportedly asked the exiled Haitian leader to stop blaming the United States for his ouster.
