Bdos: Pure pique

Angered by way President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced to flee his country, the 15-nation Caribbean Community said yesterday it will not provide troops for the UN peacekeeping force to Haiti.

Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, speaking in harsh terms on behalf of the economic bloc to which Haiti belongs, said Caribbean leaders were “extremely disappointed” at the involvement of “Western partners” in the hasty departure of Aristide, who has said he was abducted at gunpoint by US Marines.

Patterson wondered why the UN Security Council had ignored an urgent Caribbean appeal to it last Thursday to send peacekeepers to Haiti.

“We believe that we put forward a very compelling case before the Security Council on Thursday of last week. The Security Council failed to respond then. We could not fail to observe that what was impossible on Thursday could be accomplished in an emergency meeting on Sunday. We are disappointed in the extreme at the failure to act,” Patterson said.

“In the prevailing circumstances, the leaders do not envisage their participation in the multinational peacekeeping force authorised by the UN Security Council,” the leaders said in a statement ending an emergency meeting on Haiti.