France offers aid to Haiti
 |
Villepin: Crisis committee will meet to decide what help to offer.
Story Tools
VIDEO
|
Ongoing unrest in Haiti has U.S. officials wondering if they will be forced to intervene.
|
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
|
Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.
Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions.
|
|
PARIS, France (Reuters) -- Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin says France is ready to offer humanitarian assistance to Haiti after the eruption of an armed rebellion in the impoverished former French colony.
But he was non-committal about whether France would send a peacekeeping force to the Caribbean nation, answering a question on the issue by saying Paris was in contact with its partners in the framework of the United Nations, which has set up a humanitarian mission.
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 more than 50 people have been killed in the revolt against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. (Full story)
"We have the means -- and many friendly countries are mobilized and ready to act. We have to find a way to do this in liaison with the different Haitian parties," Villepin said.
"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."
U.N. officials said last week that hundreds of thousands of Haitians could go hungry if the violence continued.
Tensions exploded into open revolt this month after gunmen who once backed Aristide took control of the city of Gonaives, where Haiti's slaves declared independence from France in 1804.
Aristide became Haiti's first elected leader in 1991 but now faces accusations of corruption and political violence. Ousted in a military coup soon after he was elected, he was restored to power in a U.S. invasion in 1994 and re-elected in 2000.
Villepin called on Haitians to let "dialogue prevail over violence" and said he hoped Aristide would promote such dialogue.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
