SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (Reuters) - The president of the Dominican Republic told the armed forces to detain any Haitian suspected of being part of the armed revolt against Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, if they are found crossing into or out of the neighboring country.

President Hipolito Mejia said late on Saturday that his country, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti, was not going to be used to undermine Haiti's democracy.

"I have given instructions to the military for conspirators who either enter or leave the country to be detained. We cannot under any circumstances foster the process of undermining democracy in that country," he said.

"There will be no sponsoring of aggression against Haiti from the Dominican Republic side," Mejia said.

A Haitian paramilitary leader who had been hiding in the Dominican Republic has surfaced in Gonaives, the Haitian city where an armed gang threw out police and government authorities on Feb. 5 at the start of a revolt that spread to half a dozen towns.

Louis Jodel Chamblain, leader of the right-wing FRAPH militia that terrorized Haitians when a military junta ruled the country between 1991 and 1994, told Haitian radio on Saturday he had hooked up with rebels.

Mejia's government has in the past given asylum to several people accused by the Aristide government of being involved in plots against the Haitian government.

The Dominican Republic, like Haiti, has a troubled history of political upheavals. But in recent years it has enjoyed relative economic and political stability while Haiti has remained mired in poverty.

The revolt against Aristide, who is mid-way through a second term as president, came on top of months of protests against what critics condemn as corruption and mismanagement.

The Dominican Republic has put its armed forces at the border on alert because of the unrest in Haiti, in which up to 50 people have died. Officials said two Dominican soldiers were killed on Saturday at La Vigia, on the northern border with Haiti.

personally don’t give a rat’s ass as to the administration’s response to events in Haïti, for whatever that response is, it will be damaging to the Haïtians. Why must Black folk always look to the Whites for solutions to our problems?

White folks head the most powerful and richess countries in the world. It is important for Haiti (being a small poor country) to work alongside them in order to improve the lives of its citizens. Haiti cannot get better on its own, not can it stand anymore punishment from the white man. We as Haitians need to understand that. It is not a matter of degrading ourselves to the white man, it is more like knowing our limit as a nation (at this point).

Nadine,

We need to stop sucking the white man's pijon!! The white man steps on us because we let him. We're always up here talking about "Ann met tèt ansanm, Ann met tèt ansanm."  Our problems would have been solved a long time ago if we just had the wherewhithal to do it. We just need a leader smart enough and powerful enough and honest enough to get all factions in Haiti on his or her side. Someone who can really get us to "met tèt ansanm." Until this person steps up to the plate, we're just gonna languish like an animal wounded on the side of the road. Every once in a while, a car will hit us again, not enough to kill, but enough to give ourselves the wackest quality of life. Eventually we will just die. 

"White folks head the most powerful and richess countries in the world. It is important for Haiti (being a small poor country) to work alongside them in order to improve the lives of its citizens. "

The only time Haïtians said “NO” to the “White Man” was when we said “NO” to slavery. We are one of the most cooperative people on the planet and have nothing to show for it

"Haiti cannot get better on its own,"

Speaking for your self obviously. I am not a proponent of refuse and reject all contact; rather I would like a more selective approach and the freedom to “Haïtianize” whatever the hell they ask of us to do; ie: “do our own thing”.

"nor can it stand anymore punishment from the white man."

"We as Haitians need to understand that. It is not a matter of degrading ourselves to the white man, it is more like knowing our limit as a nation (at this point)."

We are not exploring space nor do we want to be a super power. Our current goals are very limited to the basics: Food; Shelter; Healthcare; Education. Now you would deny us the right to dream beyond those necessities.

So that's why I don't give a rat's ass what they want, for my people ask for little.

The way i see it we will always need help from other country.  Hiatian in general don't want to help themselves get better, so who would help.  Negnwe mentioned until we find one man to step up to the plate, this is the problem.  It's not a one man job, it's every Haitian job to step up to the plate.  You think only one man could pull Haiti out of that mess?  Ve kele?

You know what it sounds like, you're drowning someone jumped in to help you, you leave it up to that person to save your life, but YOU don't want to make an effort at all.  

A Way Out for Haiti 

(From the editorial section Of the NY Times)

February 19, 2004
By JAMES DOBBINS





ARLINGTON, Va.
Ever since President Woodrow Wilson sent in the Marines in
1915, the United States has made intermittent - and
sometimes inconsistent - efforts to bring about stability,
democracy and prosperity in Haiti. The last decade,
especially, has seen striking examples of contradictory
American policy, and the cumulative result has been
economic stagnation and turmoil in Haiti, where more than
40 people have died during an uprising this month.

American policy on Haiti in the last 10 years has gone from
one extreme to another. The Clinton administration strongly
supported the ousted president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
sending 20,000 troops in 1994 to restore him to power. The
current administration then cut off all American assistance
to the Aristide government while giving advice and moral
support to Mr. Aristide's opponents. Entrenched in their
own economic and political divisions, Haitians tend to
regard politics as an all-or-nothing, life-and-death
struggle. The more support one side or the other has
received from its partisans in Washington, the less
inclined it has been to compromise.

If the United States is to help Haiti overcome its crisis
through dialogue and reconciliation, therefore, Republicans
and Democrats have to reconcile their own differences. And
this may indeed be happening.

Secretary of State Colin Powell ended an apparent
administration flirtation with a coup in Haiti, stating
clearly on Tuesday that Mr. Aristide should finish his
term. The Bush administration has concluded that Mr.
Aristide, however flawed he may be, is the only
legitimately elected leader in Haiti, and perhaps the sole
remaining source of stability.

At the same time, Mr. Aristide's American supporters
recognize his responsibility for the crisis and would like
to see Haiti make a new start. Prominent African-Americans
like the Rev. Walter Fauntroy, president of the National
Black Leadership Roundtable, have suggested that Mr.
Aristide should step down now.

This convergence of American opinion on Haiti offers the
prospect of a more united and thus more effective American
approach. The next step should be for leaders on both sides
of the aisle to collaborate on a new strategy for Haiti.
Such a strategy could be based on these elements:

• Mr. Aristide should serve out his term, which expires in
2006. But at the same time, we need to prepare the
succession. It will take at least the two years Mr.
Aristide has left in office to organize fair elections.
Major American and international efforts to do so should
begin now.

• The international community, either the United Nations or
the Organization of American States, should administer the
balloting, not just offer assistance. No Haitian government
will be able to organize elections with even minimal
standards of fairness.

• Haiti should get much more help. This year the United
States will give Baghdad 200 times more economic assistance
than it will to Haiti, which is in much worse shape than
Iraq even after the invasion. We must pay greater attention
to a desperately poor, misgoverned nation in our backyard.

• Some of this foreign aid should go toward strengthening
Haitian institutions. Even the Clinton administration
preferred to channel American aid through nongovernmental
organizations, fearing that any money given to the Haitian
government would be misspent. But no Haitian leader or
leaders, however good their intentions, will be able to
govern wisely if they have no institutions to rely on. We
need to begin now to give Mr. Aristide's successors the
wherewithal to govern.

• The United States should get directly involved in ending
the impasse between Mr. Aristide and his opponents. The
United Nations, the Organization of American States and the
Caribbean Community, an organization of Caribbean states,
can all play helpful roles, but only the United States has
real influence in Haiti. A unified American stance could
have a decisive impact, and a truly bipartisan diplomatic
engagement now might still avoid the need for yet another
military intervention.

It's often said that democracies end up doing the right
thing only after having tried all the alternatives. We have
tried the alternatives in Haiti and failed. Now we can see
if doing the right thing will succeed.

James Dobbins, director of the International Security and
Defense Policy Center at RAND, was President Bill Clinton's
special envoy for Haiti from 1994 to 1996.