BRIDGETOWN - There are conflicting signals on "engagement" with the interim Haitian regime ahead of a fact-finding mission to Port-au-Prince tomorrow by a five-member team of Caribbean Community Foreign Ministers.

The team, headed by the Community's current chairman of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR), Barbados's Foreign Minister Dame Billie Miller, includes the Foreign Ministers of Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda and The Bahamas.

But within two days of a decision by CARICOM Heads of Government to send the ministerial mission to Haiti to discuss the terms by which the interim regime in Port-au-Prince could be invited to participate in the business of the Community, interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has dismissed as "utter nonsense" the conditionalities to make this possible.

Chairman of CARICOM and host of the just-concluded 25th Summit in St. George's Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, told the Sunday Chronicle yesterday:

"If the report out of Port-au-Prince attributed to Prime Minister Latortue is correct in his dismissal of the conditionalities we have outlined, then this will be most unfortunate and unhelpful to what we are seeking to achieve in the interest of the people of Haiti. I say no more at this stage..."

Last Wednesday evening, when he conducted a media briefing at the close of the four-day CARICOM Summit, Prime Minister Mitchell had highlighted five key conditions for the return of Haiti to the council of CARICOM, pending new elections as agreed to by the Heads of Government during retreat on the island of Calivigny.

Without releasing the text of the `Statement on Haiti’, since approval was yet being awaited from the Prime Ministers of St. Lucia, Kenny Anthony and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves who had to leave Grenada earlier, Mitchell outlined the five points as follows:

The Points *1. "The political process should be inclusive involving all political parties, which should all be treated equally...

*2. "Equal commitment of the Haitian authorities in the pursuit of all known criminals: not one person to be connected to one group being treated one way, and another person of another group treated in another way.

*3. "No persecution or arbitrary treatment of political opponents, whatever their persuasions.

*4. "Assurances that the appropriate election machinery is in place and that elections will be free, fair and transparent; and

*5. "Elections should take place in an expectable time frame and under the provision of the international community, including CARICOM”.

However, following reporting of the points outlined by Prime Minister Mitchell, it was subsequently decided to delink the five conditionalities from the statement on Haiti as originally formulated at the Calivigny caucus of the Heads of Government and use them instead for negotiations with the Latortue regime.

At the time of the official release of the communiqué on the deliberations and decisions of the 25th CARICOM Summit on Thursday, neither Prime Minister Anthony nor Gonsalves had been reached by the Community Secretariat.

This was also the situation up to yesterday morning when the Secretariat was contacted by this correspondent.

The 14-page summit communiqué includes three paragraphs on what is described on page nine as "review and update of the situation in Haiti".

Central of their consideration on the situation in Haiti, the leaders had "determined", said the communiqué, "to pursue their commitment to do what is in the best interest of the Haitian people.

"Mindful that Haiti remains a member of CARICOM, the Heads of Government decided to create a channel for engagement with the interim administration in Haiti.

"To this end, they decided to dispatch a five-member CARICOM ministerial team to Haiti to discuss recent developments with the Haitian officials".

The Community leaders also agreed to appoint Dominica's Charles Maynard as their Special Envoy to Haiti.

Maynard, a former Trade Minister in the Freedom Party administration of ex-Prime Minister Eugenia Charles, once lived in Haiti and is also fluent in Creole.

CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington, who will be accompanying the ministerial mission to Haiti, said yesterday he preferred not to offer any comment on the matter before the conclusion of the mission and the submission of a report to the CARICOM Bureau in Grenada, hopefully by month end.