Haiti Leader Snubs U.S. Plan

Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has rebuffed Bush administration suggestions that he convene early presidential elections as a way to defuse the country's accelerating political crisis, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

While rejecting any Haitian opposition efforts to remove Aristide by force, administration officials are privately discussing ideas for a possible constitutional succession before Aristide's term expires in February 2006.

U.S. officials worry that the current crisis would only worsen if Aristide is forced to flee. One option being discussed internally is a transfer of power, with Aristide's consent, to a temporary governing board made up of Haitians who would run the country until a new president was elected.

It is not clear how much support that proposal has at top levels of the administration.

Haitian government spokesman Mario Dupuy said in Port-au-Prince that he could neither confirm nor deny the administration's proposal for early elections.

Aristide was elected to a five-year term in December 2000. He has said repeatedly that he intends to serve out his full term. The Haitian constitution says the head of the Supreme Court is next in line in the event the presidency is vacated.

U.S. interagency meetings on what to do about the situation in Haiti include representatives from the Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard, the senior U.S. official said, asking not to be identified. This is an indication that officials are concerned about a possible new Haitian refugee crisis.

A sudden surge in boat-building by individual Haitians would be a sure sign of preparations for an escape from the impoverished country, but U.S. officials say they detect no such activity on a meaningful scale. They caution that Aristide's forced removal could provoke as mass exodus as rival groups compete to fill the power vacuum.

The U.S. has a long history of intervention in Haitian affairs, the last time being 1994 when 20,000 troops were sent in to restore Aristide to power after he was ousted in a coup. But Aristide has failed to deliver on promised reforms, says CBS News State Department Reporter Charles Wolfson.

Tens of thousands of Haitians fled during the era of the military junta that deposed Aristide. The military ran the country for three years before the U.S. military reinstated Aristide.

Secretary of State Colin Powell says the administration has "no enthusiasm" for a new military intervention. But Marine Corps Commandant Michael Hagee said Wednesday the U.S. military is upgrading contingency plans, which he described as a normal process in unstable situations.

Aristide enjoyed wide political support both here and in Haiti when he was reinstated in October 1994. Among his strongest backers was the Congressional Black Caucus. There is little overt CBC backing for Aristide now but there have been expressions of concern that the administration may be seeking Aristide's ouster by unconstitutional means.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who often speaks out on human rights issues on behalf of the CBC, said in a Feb. 11 letter to Powell that there is "a violent coup d'etat in the making, and it appears that the United States is aiding and abetting the attempt to violently topple the Aristide Government."

The administration has repeatedly called for a political solution to the crisis. The mediation effort is being led by Caribbean nations and the Organization of American States.

The decline of CBC support for Aristide has been coupled with growing disaffection for Aristide among Haiti's Caribbean neighbors.

Last Friday, Powell made clear his impatience with Aristide and suggested that the Haitian leader is backed by disreputable elements.

"We need him to start taking action, to reach out to the opposition, to make sure that thugs are not allowed to break up peaceful demonstrations," he said.

TransAfrica, a Washington-based group that monitors U.S. policy toward Africa and the Caribbean, said in a statement Tuesday the administration should halt its "contemptuous attitude toward President Aristide" and focus on a negotiated settlement.