Annan's special envoy on Haiti goes to Jamaica, Caribbean Community's chair

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy to Haiti, John Reginald Dumas, went to Jamaica today for talks on peace-building in Haiti with Jamaican Prime Minister Percival J. Patterson, the chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

The Security Council approved a resolution on Sunday calling on the UN, CARICOM and the Organization of American States (OAS) to "promote the rebuilding of democratic institutions" and combat poverty in Haiti.

CARICOM and the OAS were the lead organizations in trying to work out a compromise between then-Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his unarmed opposition prior to Mr. Aristide's departure.

Representatives of the UN's Department of Political Affairs and Department of Peacekeeping Operations, meanwhile, went to a meeting in Washington, D.C., convened today by the OAS Group of Friends of the Secretary-General on Haiti to share information about the Caribbean nation's situation.

Attending the meeting were representatives of OAS member States, as well as other interested countries and organizations.

A UN spokesman, responding to press questions in New York, repeated that Mr. Annan had authorized the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Coordinator in Haiti, Adama Guindo, to join a CARICOM-proposed tripartite committee that would recommend nine Haitians who would, in turn, name an interim government.