Aristide, left, and Latortue
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP):
CARIBBEAN LEADERS are starting a two-day summit in Trinidad & Tobago tomorrow where leaders will discuss whether to renew ties with Haiti and set up a single regional trade market.
Apart from the continued civil unrest in Haiti, the former French colony has been figuring much in the debate about gun flows to other islands, particularly Jamaica.
Most leaders from the Caribbean Community will attend except U.S.-backed interim Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.
COLLAPSE
Relations between the 15-member regional bloc and Haiti collapsed in March when a U.S.-backed Government was installed after rebels ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on February 29, and Jamaica offered temporary refuge to Aristide.
Aristide told Caribbean leaders that he had been kidnapped by the United States, an accusation U.S. officials deny.
Initially, the Caribbean Community was unified in its opposition to the interim government in Haiti, but now most countries have softened their stance. Only Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia have said they will not recognise the Haitian Government.
Caribbean Community Secretary-General Edwin Carrington has criticised U.S. policy in Haiti, but said that both sides 'have to work together'.
Officials from the region will likely make a decision by Tuesday on whether to renew ties with Haiti after discussions on setting up a single regional trade market by January.
About 15 million people live in the Caribbean Community with nearly half in Haiti, which has a population of eight million.
Leaders will also discuss the devastating 2004 hurricane season and schedule a date for the opening of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
The regional court, which will replace Britain's Privy Council as the final appellate court in most English-speaking countries in the Caribbean, was due to open November 6. The date was postponed to give several countries time to recover from the hurricane damage.
Grenada was especially hard-hit with 39 deaths and 90 per cent of homes and buildings affected during Hurricane Ivan in September.
