Haiti's army chief, already successful in blocking President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's return, said only he and Aristide can decide whether a U.N. peace plan can continue beyond Saturday.
Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras made his comments in a four-hour late-night interview with right-wing Radio Liberte that was broadcast Friday.The comments came hours after Aristide demanded the immediate firing of the army high command or the strengthening of international sanctions to force out the soldiers who overthrew him in September 1991.
The capital was quiet Friday after two small, army-backed political groups opposed to Aristide called a nationwide strike to press the government to seize foreign-owned gas depots.
Aristide supporters and the international community have effectively ruled out Aristide's return Saturday as outlined in the U.N. plan, but they said the plan would remain in effect until his return.
Cedras said he, too, must determine if the plan could continue. "The two who signed it (the plan) must decide" if it can be prolonged, he told the radio station.
Aristide and Cedras signed the plan in July in New York. It called for the separation of the army and the police, the resignation of Cedras and return of Aristide on Saturday.
Cedras has refused to step down, and army-backed groups also have demanded the pact be renegotiated and new elections for president held.
The general said Aristide's comments Thursday before the United Nations, presumably his insistence on the resignation of the entire high command, were a violation of the constitution and a tacit "rejection" of the agreement.
"I wonder whether he read the accord or has forgotten it," Cedras said, reiterating his demand for a general amnesty for coup supporters.
Aristide's speech also got a rough reception at home from lawmakers, some ordinary people and even those trying to return the exiled president.
Some who heard Aristide's call for a total embargo on Haiti to punish the army for refusing to relinquish power hoped there could be a better way. Others who heard him call for the immediate firing of the entire army high command thought he was sabotaging his own efforts to return.
"I personally am astonished that the president is demanding the embargo and the blockade, because the embargo and the blockade worsen the economic and ecological situation," said Haiti's lower house president, Antoine Joseph.
Before Aristide's ouster by the army two years ago, Joseph was an opponent of the popular president. But he also opposed the coup and has been a key figure in trying to fashion a compromise acceptable to Aristide and the army.
The call for a total embargo also didn't play well in the garbage-filled slums of this already suffering capital - normally Aristide strongholds.
"The people are going to suffer, there will be no work, no transportation. He didn't reflect on that," said a 56-year-old teacher who gave his name only as Paul. "(Aristide) is a little selfish, that's his nature. The kids are going to suffer a lot."
Haiti has only three to four days of fuel left in gas stations, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Stanley Schrager.