Haiti’s President-elect calls for unity

Press, 26 January 1988, Page 6

Haiti’s President-elect calls for unity

NZPA-Reuter Port-au-Prince Haiti’s President-elect, Leslie Manigat, has pledged an honest, democratic Government and called for national unity to help the country emerge from 30 years of dictatorship. Hours after being told of his victory in the January 17 elections — which other candidates and foreign observers have said were rigged — Mr Manigat promised Haitians “a democratic government, clean, competent, and totally devoted to the urban and rural masses.”

The military junta’s electoral commission in charge of supervising last week’s polls gave slightly different figures than earlier, saying Mr Manigat received 50.27 per cent of the votes, instead of 50.39 per cent. Emphasising the great difficulties facing the impoverished Caribbean island nation in its struggle to “emerge from the abyss” of dictatorship, Mr Manigat, aged 57, said he was welcoming all Haitians of good will.

“I am a fnan of dialogue. We must all work together, together, together, in peace,” he said in a televised speech. He said the Army had carried out its task of leading Haiti to elections and added that General Henri Namphy’s junta would “soon be returning to barracks.” The United Statestrained Haitian Army stands as the country’s main organised force, and Mr Manigat is on record as saying that nothing can be done in the country “without the support 0f... the Army.” The President-elect, who Western' diplomats said has close ties with the United States, has also been quoted by a Haitian weekly newspaper as saying of the Army: “I will deal with the problem in due course.”

Mr Manigat called on Haiti’s six million people to have faith in him, saying that during his fiveyear mandate he will be the President “of all Haitians without distinction.”

In his 10-minute speech, Mr Manigat indicated that

he intended to form a widely-based Government of national union.

The military junta is due to hand over power to him on February 7, marking the second anniversary of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier’s flight into exile in France. Haitians lived under the dictatorship of “Baby Doc,” and before him his father Francois "Papa Doc,” Duvalier for nearly 30 years. A first attempt to hold elections supervised by an independent electoral commission collapsed last November 29 in a bloodbath when Duvalier’s former Tonton Macoutes para-military police opened fire on voters, killing at least 34 people. Independent observers and human rights organisations reported at the time that General Namphy’s soldiers did not intervene to stop the killings and in some cases took part.

Following the killings, the United States suspended all aid to Haiti other than humanitarian assistance.