Haiti: Secretary Powell's September 2003 Call for Action

Question:   Has Secretary Powell issued a September, 2003 deadline for the Haitian government to comply with the provisions of a particular OAS resolution?

Answer:   At the OAS General Assembly in June, Secretary Powell called for the reevaluation of the organization’s role in Haiti in September 2003, if the Haitian government continued to fail to meet the terms of OAS Permanent Council Resolution 822. That resolution directs Haiti to provide the climate of security essential for the formation of a credible, neutral, and independent Provisional Electoral Council, which that country has thus far failed to do. The September date has its basis, in part, in OAS General Assembly Resolution 1959, issued in June, which calls on the OAS Secretary General to provide a report by September 2003, assessing the ability of his organization’s Haiti-based “Special Mission for Strengthening Democracy,” to fulfill its mandate to help the Haitian government meet its Resolution 822 commitments.

Ambassador Terence Todman is currently in Haiti as OAS Special Envoy to promote dialogue between the Haitian government and other political forces that would lead to formation of a credible, neutral, and independent electoral council and to improvement in the climate of security, as called for in Resolution 822.