Haiti Issues an Arrest Order for Ousted Leader

The provisional government issued an arrest order for ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, state radio reported Friday, ahead of talks with foreign governments that want him reinstated.

It also ordered the arrest of four other men, including Aristide’s prime minister. State television said the men are wanted in an investigation of the death of a prominent Aristide critic and the arrest and alleged torture of a navy officer’s wife.

The arrest orders, issued late Thursday, apparently were an attempt by the government to create legal obstacles to Aristide’s return and to underscore its claims that he allowed human rights abuses.

Aristide, who was in Trinidad on Friday, was not available for immediate comment.

Those being sought include Aristide’s prime minister, Rene Preval; Army Col. Pierre Cherubin, who headed the military police under Aristide; Army Lt. Richard Saloman, and a provincial official, Jean-Claude Jean-Baptiste.

Relatives of Sylvio Claude, an evangelical preacher who headed the Christian Democratic Party and spoke out against Aristide, filed a court complaint on Wednesday. It charges Aristide and Jean-Baptiste with responsibility for Claude’s death on Sept. 30, the day of a military coup that ousted Aristide.

A mob in the southwestern provincial town of Cayes set upon Claude, beating and stabbing him to death and setting his body on fire atop gasoline-soaked tires. Jean-Baptiste was the national government’s representative for the Cayes area.

The international community has refused to recognize Haiti’s provisional government, and a delegation from the Organization of American States was due to arrive today to try to negotiate Aristide’s return.

The provisional government, headed by Prime Minister Jean-Jacques Honorat, has taken a tough, nationalistic stance and accuses the OAS of interfering in Haitian affairs.

The 34-nation OAS, which includes the United States, has imposed severe economic sanctions, including a trade embargo.

Meanwhile, the United States urged Friday that Americans still in Haiti leave the country in anticipation of the trade embargo beginning to bite.

“As fuel and other essential supplies run out, we anticipate much greater hardships and tensions in Haiti,” Ambassador Alvin Adams said in a statement released by the State Department.

Adams said that about 2,000 Americans citizens and more than half of the U.S. Embassy’s staff had left Haiti in the last two weeks in line with previous State Department advice.