Word: diplomatically
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Emmanuel "Toto" Constant was known to American reporters in Haiti as an elegant dresser, a man who spoke perfect English and claimed to hold degrees in physics and mathematics from Canadian universities -- while still believing fervently in voodoo -- and, so he said, a onetime diplomat with the Haitian mission to the United Nations. He was also the head of a gang of thugs unusually vicious even by Haitian standards, the FRAPH. Those letters are the initials of the French words for Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, but to most Haitians they stand for murder, torture and beatings...
Others who have negotiated with the North say its shifts of direction are nothing new. "They like to set the bar higher and higher," said a Japanese diplomat, whose country engaged in eight rounds of talks to normalize relations with the North before they broke down. A Washington official adds, "It's not unusual for them, having pocketed what you put on the table in the last round, to retract their concessions...
Though Republicans especially have pressed the attack in Congress, a clear majority of Democrats oppose invasion also, and for a reason that will not cease to be relevant however U.S. troops go in. Their basic argument: Haiti is simply not worth the sacrifice of U.S. lives. Even an American diplomat on the scene concedes privately that in the "narrow, traditional" sense of the words, Haiti is not a vital interest for the U.S. It has no strategic position, no economic importance in terms of raw materials, markets or U.S. investment. Its army is no threat to the U.S., the Caribbean...
...course, Clinton can't afford to fire the Secretary in the months or weeks leading up to the elections. But notwithstanding the President's bind, he has set a dangerous precedent by making former President Carter his de facto chief diplomat. Carter currently holds neither elected office nor appointed post. He is not part of an official chain of command in which he can be held accountable for any of his decisions...
...Rwandan capital of Kigali had not fallen to the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan | Patriotic Front on July 4. The victory emboldened Burundi's Tutsi opposition to make more demands, creating a dangerous stalemate. "There is a government, but the whole structure is weak and barely functioning," says a Western diplomat in Bujumbura. "There are 27 ministers, 11 of whom are from the opposition. There is an interim President afraid of his own shadow." The Tutsi-dominated military hovers in the background, alert for an opportunity to take power. And more than 230,000 Hutu refugees from Rwanda complicate any attempts...