On Rush Visit, Albright Calls for Compromise in Haiti

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, in a rushed trip to Haiti, lectured the country’s president and politicians Friday to reach a compromise and break the political impasse that has paralyzed the government and economy of this troubled Caribbean nation.

Repeating the message she delivered to President Rene Preval and members of the Haitian congress, she told reporters: “Disputes are the lifeblood of democracy. But Haiti has gone too long with its stalemate.”

Albright, who has earned a reputation for plain, tough talk, said Haitian politicians must learn to compromise and ask “not what is right for them but what is right for their country.”

The political stalemate, which has left Haiti with only two-thirds of a Senate for seven months and without a prime minister for five, has troubled the Clinton administration, which dispatched about 20,000 troops to Haiti three years ago to restore democracy. A collapse of the political system would embarrass the administration.

But Preval, replying to questions from reporters, seemed in more a defensive mood than a compromising one. He justified his actions, insisting that he has no intention of nullifying April’s elections for a third of the Senate.

The opposition parties, which control Haiti’s congress, have refused to allow a second round of voting for the Senate or to confirm Preval’s latest choice for prime minister until he declares the first round fraudulent.

Reflecting another concern of the administration, Albright said “progress in breaking the economic despair [in Haiti] is slow indeed.” She said foreign and Haitian officials need to come up with ways to “jump-start a renewed cycle of progress.” But she said the government cannot introduce economic reform measures until a new prime minister is approved.

Albright said she and Preval agreed that the U.N. peacekeeeping mission training a new police force in Haiti will end as scheduled Nov. 30. She said they discussed “other forms of international assistance, but no decision has been made.”

Preval said he intends “to ask for multilateral aid in order to continue the process of reforming the police.” But he did not say what he had in mind.

There has been disquiet in Haiti over the impending departure of the 1,500 U.N. soldiers and police because of a widespread feeling that the new police force is inexperienced and abusive.

Albright tackled this issue when she presented four small trucks and other equipment to the Haitian National Police at their headquarters. Bluntly addressing a detachment of riot police, she said, “We will continue our support for a disciplined, professional police force until justice is the expectation, and not the exception, in the life of every Haitian.”

The secretary also admonished the officers that “political violence has no place in Haiti’s future.”

Aides said Albright and Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) had met with Robert Manuel, the secretary of state for public security, and Pierre Denize, the director general of the police, and informed them that the U.S. administration and Congress still demand that Haiti solve the slayings of more than two dozen politicians, many of whom were conservative opponents of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the leader American troops restored to power.

The secretary had been traveling with President Clinton in Argentina when she decided to cut that trip short and fly to Haiti.