The Organisation of American States (OAS) says it will send a special mission to assess the situation in Haiti in response to a request by Haitian President Michel Martelly.
According to an agreement reached Wednesday by the Permanent Council of the institution, the chair of the Council and Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda, Sir Ronald Sanders, said the mission will be sent by the Secretary General of the OAS Luis Almagro.
Sir Ronald said the mission’s work will include engaging in “a dialogue with all appropriate parties”.
Almagro said the “mandate and the limits” under which the mission will act “must be set by the legitimate Government of Haiti at this moment.
“Any other action beyond that would be an intervention that Haiti does not want, and that we want even less,” he said.
The OAS secretary general said the successful conclusion of the electoral process in Haiti is “critically important,” adding that the dates for the second round of voting in the presidential elections should be set as soon as possible.
“It is of fundamental importance that there be an election, and not a plebiscite or a referendum on a single candidate,” he said. “Haitians should agree on a mechanism for a clearly defined period of time, as short as possible.”
Almagro said this should be within a plan endorsed by the Haitian Supreme Court of Justice.
Permanent representative of Haiti to the OAS, Bocchit Edmond, said the request by his Government for a high-level OAS mission was motivated by “the goal of helping the actors to get together to avoid the country falling into an institutional vacuum and chaos”.
