Haiti's army chief on Saturday agreed to permit international civilian observers into the country to monitor human rights, Jesse Jackson said after talks with the general.
The reported agreement by Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras, if it holds, would mark a step forward for efforts to restore democracy in Haiti. The army ousted the country's first freely elected president in 1991.Jackson, who arrived Friday on a private two-day visit, said he told Cedras that the military must give up control of the country to allow for a return of democracy.
"My appeal to the general was to accept reality that (ousted President Jean-Bertrand) Aristide and democracy are on the way back," Jackson told reporters after nearly three hours of talks with Cedras and other generals.
A few hours later, police stopped Jackson's entourage on a beach in Leogane, 20 miles south of the capital, as he talked with Haitians building boats. Police checked the identity papers of Jackson, U.S. embassy personnel and journalists. Such checks are routine in Haiti.
Jackson and others say they fear that Haitian boat people will begin to flee their nation in record numbers again, in hopes of winning asylum, following the change in the U.S. administration.
Although Jackson has described his mission as private, it is not clear to what degree, if any, Jackson represents the Clinton administration.