Civilian human rights observers return; UN mission faces obstacles.

Ten observers of the joint UN/Organization of American States (OAS) International Civilian Mission in Haiti (MICIVIH) returned to the capital city of Port-au-Prince on 26 January to "start their work anew to ensure respect for human rights", according to a Mission spokesman.

The observers at first would work only in Port-au-Prince. All competent authorities had been "informed of this movement of personnel", the Mission spokesman reported. By the end of March, the number of observers had increased to 28.

On 6 December 1993, the General Assembly, in its resolution 48/27, had asked the UN Secretary-General to do his utmost to bring MICIVIH back "as rapidly as possible".

On 20 February, the Secretary-General reported (S/1994/203 and A/48/879) that the situation in Haiti, including human rights, had "seriously deteriorated in the last few months". its people were "under severe strain, notwithstanding efforts to maintain the flow of humanitarian assistance".

On 23 March, a UN spokesman reported that a small group of MICIVIH observers had been the "target of demonstrations and harassment" by civilians in Hinche, who appeared to be members of the Front Revolutionnaire pour l'avancement et le progres haitien (FRAPH). Dante Caputo, Special Envoy of the Secretaries-General of the UN and the OAS, expressing his indignation, strongly condemned those serious incidents, particularly because they had "occurred in the presence of military personnel", who did nothing to prevent them. Also, numerous cases of rape had been reported to MICIVIH. The Mission denounced those violations of the rights of Haitian women--which appeared to be "part and parcel of political violence and terror"--as unacceptable. it called on the high command of the Haitian Armed Forces to investigate and bring the perpetrators before the courts.

Resolution 905: UNMIH extended

On 23 March, the Security Council stated it was "deeply disturbed by the continued obstruction" to the dispatch of the UN Mission in Haiti (UNMIH), set up in September 1993, and the "failure of the Armed Forces of Haiti to carry out their responsibilities to allow the Mission to begin its work". in unanimously adopting resolution 905 (1994), the Council extended UNMIH's mandate until 30 June and asked the Secretary-General to report to it "at such time as conditions may exist" in Haiti for UNMIH deployment "for purposes consistent with paragraph 5 of the Governors island Agreement". Paragraph 5 provided for assistance in modernizing the Haitian Armed Forces and establishing a new police force with the presence of UN personnel in those fields.

In signing the Governors Island Agreement on 3 July 1993, exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide--ousted in a September 1991 coup--and Lieutenant-General Raoul Cedras, Commander-in-Chief of the Haitian Armed Forces, had agreed to a political dialogue, under the auspices of the UN and the OAS, aimed at reaching a political truce and promoting a social pact to create conditions for a peaceful transition. Under that Agreement, President Aristide was to have returned to Haiti by 30 October 1993.

Although there had been "no change in the prevailing situation in Haiti", nevertheless, a three-month extension of UNMIH's mandate would allow for the "possibility of reactivating the Mission with a minimum delay, should the current political impasse be breached and implementation of the Governors island Agreement be resumed", Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali reported (S/1994/311) on 18 March.

Special Envoy Caputo and other UN staff had not ceased their "attempts to identify and encourage the establishment of common ground between the parties concerned", and recent political developments had shed "encouraging light on what has otherwise been a bleak scene", the Secretary-General stated.

In order to "promote agreement between the parties on steps which would make it possible to resume implementation of the Governors Island Agreement", Mr. Caputo had continued to work intensively with the Four Friends of the Secretary-General for Haiti--Canada, France, the United States and Venezuela--Mr. Boutros-Ghali reported on 20 February.

An important step in that regard was the conference convened by President Aristide in Miami, Florida from 14 to 16 January. There, a "consensus emerged on a sequence of steps to be taken to break the current impasse", the Secretary-General said. Further consultations between leading members of the two Houses of the Haitian Parliament were held on 19 January in Washington, D. C..

On 19 February, members of both Houses--"representing all political tendencies in that Parliament"--had agreed on a plan to resume progress in implementing the Governors island Agreement. These were "significant developments", Mr. Boutros-Ghali stated.

President Aristide, however, had expressed concern that such a plan would be "contradictory" to the Agreement and, therefore, could not be accepted by him, the Secretary-General added.

Honour commitments

All signatories of the UN-sponsored 16 July 1993 New York Pact--which, among other things, provided for a six-month political truce, the normalization of the Parliament, and agreements to confirm the Prime Minister--were urged on 10 February to honour their commitments. in his appeal, the Secretary-General also said that some members of the Haitian Senate had proceeded on 5 February "to elect a new leadership of the Senate with the participation of persons elected during the 18 January 1993 elections, which have been declared illegal by the international community". On 7 February, the same Senators had "attempted to occupy the office of the legitimate leadership of the Senate".

The Secretary-General deplored those acts, stating that they constituted a "violation of the letter and the spirit of the New York Pact", according to which those individuals would voluntarily abstain from taking their seats in Parliament until a Conciliation Commission had rendered its verdict on the matter.

In addition, those acts discredited Haitian democratic institutions and impeded a solution to the political crisis in that country, it was stressed.

Fuel arrival welcomed

The imminent arrival in Haiti of a shipment of fuel, approved by the Security Council Committee established under resolution 841 (1993), was welcomed by the Council on 10 January.

In a statement by its President Karel Kovanda of the Czech Republic, the Council also reaffirmed its determination to "minimize the impact" of the ongoing crisis on the most vulnerable groups in Haiti, and welcomed the role of the Pan American Health Organization in the "management, delivery and distribution of fuel for humanitarian purposes".

Any authorities or individuals in Haiti, who might "in any way interfere with the delivery and distribution" of humanitarian assistance, or "endanger the personal security and safety of all personnel involved in such assistance", would be held responsible, the Council stated.

In addition, it reaffirmed its determination to ensure "the return to constitutional legality in Haiti".