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| St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Denzil L. Douglas at Tuesday's Press Conference (Photo by Erasmus Williams) |
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS (MARCH 23RD 2004) – St. Kitts and Nevis said Tuesday that the way former Haitian President, Jean Bertrand Aristide was removed from office, cannot be condoned within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and it would be difficult for Caribbean leaders meeting here in a few days to sit with that country’s interim leader, Gerard Latortue.
“As a result of not subscribing to the way by which there was a change in government in Haiti, it is going to be extremely difficult for us to sit in any of the Councils of the Caribbean Community with the interim government that has been put placed in Haiti,” Prime Minister Douglas told local journalists at his monthly Press Conference.
In what is his first public statement since the crisis, the St. Kitts and Nevis leader said CARICOM leaders have taken the matter so seriously that they have sought guidance from a legal expert from the Georgetown-based CARICOM Secretariat, as to whether Haiti with its interim government, has the right to sit in Council within the Community.
“We have been advised that until we are satisfied that the way by which the President left office is clear and that it has not been by means which are foreign to the Community; and until we can established that the new government that is in place is as a result of elections; that we would have subscribed to, then it would be very, very difficult for us to recognise the government in Haiti,” said the St. Kitts and Nevis leader.
Directly referring to the presence of the new Haitian Prime Minister being in St. Kitts and Nevis to attend the two-day 15th Inter-Sessional Conference of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), ON March 25 and 26th, Dr. Douglas said: “That is still something that is hotly being discussed.”
“However, the feeling that if he were to come here and if he were to denounce what he himself said earlier in terms of breaking off Haiti’s relationship with CARICOM and the way by which he recalled his own Ambassador from Jamaica and is able to clear up those statements that he made earlier, it would be very difficult for us to even receive him to discuss the question of Haiti,” said Prime Minister
