France Offers Help to Haiti

In the sort of news that will send Glenn Reynolds into paroxysms of rage, France has offered to help Haiti:

[Foreign Minister Dominique] Villepin told France Inter radio he had asked a crisis group to meet at the Foreign Ministry later in the day to consider what immediate help could be offered to Haiti, where up to 50 people have been killed in the revolt against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

"We have the means -- and many friendly countries are mobilised and ready to act. We have to find a way to do this in liaison with the different Haitian parties," Villepin said.

He said France could use its overseas territories of Antilles and Guyana as platforms for its efforts to help Haiti.

"We have a reservoir of expertise in education, health and humanitarian assistance there," he said. "We want to be able to make all this available when the time comes and if circumstances allow."

Meanwhile, Colin Powell, speaking on behalf of the administration said the following:

"There is, frankly, no enthusiasm right now for sending in military or police forces to put down the violence that we are seeing," Mr. Powell said. "What we want to do right now is find a political solution, and then there are willing nations that would come forward with a police presence to implement the political agreement that the sides come to.

I am somewhat inclined to agree with that statement, but someone needs to put both sides' feet to the fire to start talking about a political solution. The opposition for the most part has been saying nothing doing until Aristide resigns and Aristide says that he intends to serve out his term. There was this exception today:

"It is impossible to get free, honest and democratic elections with Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the National Palace because he will control the whole process," said Micha Gaillard, a leader of the Democratic Convergence, the main opposition group, in an interview on Monday. "But if the first step for him is not to resign, then he should deliver what Caricom asked him to do."

The Caricom proposals would require Mr. Aristide to take a number of steps, from ensuring that opposition marches can go forward to disarming groups of militants loyal to the president. He must also reform the country's tiny police force, which has fewer than 4,000 members, and form a governing council that would include opposition groups. Mr. Aristide said he has begun taking action on all of those requirements, but offered little concrete evidence, only future plans.

This disturbing trend was noted in today's New York Times:

Mr. Aristide condemned the involvement of Louis-Jodel Chamblain, an official in the former Haitian Army who was accused of committing many atrocities as part of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, known as Fraph, after the 1991 coup.

"Fraph and the army killed more than 5,000 people and pigs were eating their corpses," he said. "And today Fraph is back."

Experts on Haitian politics said the arrival of militants like Mr. Chamblain had made it all the more urgent that the current crisis be resolved quickly, before those forces take control of a larger portion of the country.

The last thing Haiti needs is the resurgence of FRAPH and the reappearance of Toto Constant, regardless of how one feels about Aristide.

In that same article, Henry Carey of Georgia State University echoed my thoughts:

Henry Carey, a professor of political science at Georgia State University, said the opposition must abandon its insistence that no elections be held until Mr. Aristide is gone. "What they should do is put the interests of country ahead of their own antipathy and own personal enmity," Professor Carey said.

At the same time, Mr. Aristide must own up to relying on violent gangs and take the necessary steps to disarm and neutralize them, Professor Carey said. "What he has got to do is stop the violation of human rights and he has got to demobilize these violent groups," he said. "But he can't do that without international help."

This is how it has to start. I just can't see any other way.

Comments

[Michael J. Totten]

There was some talk about the French sending in the military and going around the UN. I wouldn't mind a bit if they did. But, you know, some people might think that's acting like evil imperialistic Nazi cowboys. Or something.

Great if France wants to help. I don't think any reasonable person could object, including Glenn Reynolds.

I don't see where the idea that Glenn is some kind of right-wing nutjob comes from, except for people who think center=right. Glenn doesn't get sent into paroxyms of rage over anything. He's an independent centrist, and one of the most reasonable people in the blogosphere. That's why he's popular.

[Randy Paul]

He's an independent centrist, and one of the most reasonable people in the blogosphere. That's why he's popular.

You must mean another Glenn Reynolds, Michael. I don't think I could possibly disagree with you any more. I have e-mailed Glenn countless times with corrections and most of the time he ignores them. I find many of his posts to be contemptible: here he smirks over old people dying from the heat in France; here he uses the tragic death of Sergio Viera de Mello, a man who did a hell of a lot of good in the world to make some hateful comments about the UN; here he decides to make a snide comment about human rights organizations, which if he had made any effort to research the matter, he would have found out his presumption was wrong; here he decides to call French peacekeepers in the Congo cowards - from the comfort of his deck while grilling steaks. No mention of the success that they ended up having in the DRC. Do you wonder why I think that he would trash the French on the subject of Haiti?

Glenn is a partisan. When I used to read him regularly he spent much of his time attacking the left. He's popular to a certain constituency, but a lot of us just found him arrogant, imperious and condescending on his blog. I hear he's charming in person.

[Randy Paul]

He's also continuing to flog the Kerry-intern "story."

I had enough of him when he started making the objectively pro-Saddam comments about those of us who opposed the war. That was beneath contempt.

[Randy Paul]

Michael,

Actually, here's what French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said yesterday:

He said France had 4,000 troops in its Caribbean territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe trained in humanitarian work. "We are in contact with all of our partners in the framework of the United Nations, which has sent a humanitarian mission to Haiti to see what is possible."

Hardly seems like that's going around the UN. Damn those French multilateralists :-)

[Michael J. Totten]

If the French do decide to go around the UN, I don't care a bit. I would much rather see the people of Haiti get help without the UN's stamp of "approval" than watch France or anyone else surrender to the veto of some tinpot brute in Beijing.

[Glenn]

Randy, on your second comment, Reynolds' critiques (however mean and derogatory) of France, the UN and human rights organizations are not necessarily the comments of a hard right-winger.

my grandfather, who tells me all the time that it is an honor to be labelled a liberal, and who supports kucinich, still has plenty to say about the arrogance of the French (along with some other cultural flaws) and the uselessness of the UN (yeah, de mello begged on his deathbed for the UN not to cut and run from Iraq. how long did annan wait before the un fled??). i know this is just one individual case, but i've heard plenty of similar comments from my other friends on the left, all tired of french self-righteousness and UN ineptitude.

i guess my point is that while reynolds holds some conservative opinions in some areas, and occasionally makes snide remarks about europe and the un, this does not mean that he matches your characterization of him.

[Randy Paul]

Glenn,

He often paints with a broad brush and when you paint with a broad brush, making sweeping statements, you tend to smear. When he makes a statement that the UN has no moral component whatsoever does he include the WHO doctors traveling around India, often on bicycle to eradicate polio? Does he include those individuals in blue helmets who are placing themselves in danger as peacekeepers every day? I happen to be related to one who served for a year in Angola. He’s very proud of his work there.

For Glenn to insinuate that the French will act cowardly while he’s sitting on his deck grilling steaks and they have inserted themselves as part of the EU into Congo – where a humanitarian crisis was happening at that moment - is disgusting. He’s placing himself in no danger and insinuating that those who have will act as cowards for no other reason than that they’re French. A statement like that is indefensible.

He’s also often too lazy or perhaps uninterested in pursuing the facts, when they don’t dovetail with his perceptions. Witness his comment after the murder of the Canadian-Iranian journalist in June. He insinuated that human rights organizations weren’t addressing the issue. In fact, I spent all of five minutes and found stories and calls for action on the web sites of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, all of which were reported before Glenn made his post. All that tells me is that he never bothered to look. I stand by what I wrote.

Kofi Annan reduced the staff because he didn't want to lose any more of them, and when you consider how many US soldiers were lostin the following months, he was probably right.