CARICOM draws South Africa into the loop over Haiti

[Say_What]

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Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders will resume their talks on the Haiti situation today, but it appeared last night that they were attempting to fashion a response to the overthrow of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in concert with South Africa, the world's most powerful black nation.

When the heads of government and other regional ministers who were present recessed last night, after more than five hours of talks, they were largely tight-lipped about the discussion. But the Community's chairman, Prime Minister P J Patterson, revealed that Caribbean leaders had been in telephone contact with South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki.

Patterson apart, the other leaders at the summit are: Owen Arthur, prime minister of Barbados; President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana; Prime Minister Perry Christie of The Bahamas; Dr Kenny Anthony, prime minister of St Lucia; and Patrick Manning, prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

There would be further talks with Mbeki after the Caricom leaders conclude their summit, Patterson said, although he did not say precisely when or what form the follow-up discussions would take.

Although Patterson offered no details of the nature of the discussion with Mbeki, it was being surmised last night that the South Africans were being asked not only to provide an exile home for Aristide, but to make common cause with Caricom in responding to what regional leaders stopped just short of branding as a coup d'etat against Haiti's elected leader.

<http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20040302T220000-0500_56547_OBS_CARICOM_DRAWS_SOUTH_AFRICA_INTO_THE_LOOP_OVER_HAITI.asp>