Group of Rio FMs Voice Support for Haiti, Colombia, Venezuela
Posted on: Sunday, 28 August 2005, 09:00 CDT
Group of Rio FMs voice support for Haiti, Colombia, Venezuela
BUENOS AIRES, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ministers from the Group of Rio on Friday voiced their strong support for the stability of Haiti, the peace process of Colombia and the government of Venezuela.
The joint overture was made at the end of their two-day extraordinary meeting held in the Argentine mountain resort of Bariloche, 1,700 km south of the capital Buenos Aires.
On the situation in Haiti, the foreign ministers of the Latin American forum for political cooperation agreed on the need to extend the United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti (MINUSTAH), due to expire in February 2006.
They decided to request the UN Security Council for an extension of the MINUSTAH mandate beyond this year's presidential elections in Haiti.
The Haiti mission involves several Group of Rio countries led by Brazil.
Many Haitians and outside observers fear the country will be too unstable to hold elections planned for November and December -- the first since the February 2004 unrest that toppled President Jean- Bertrand Aristide.
Both the secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza, and UN Special Delegate to Haiti Juan Gabriel Valdes have indicated that it is important to maintain MINUSTAH until 2007.
As for Colombia, the ministers expressed their "recognition and support" to the efforts made by the authorities in the peace process, which have led to "the demobilization and disarmament" of over 17,000 paramilitaries, according to a communique issued at the end of the meeting.
The Group of Rio highlighted the "importance of the reinsertion process and the support for the communities where demobilizations have taken place to assure a sustained peace process," it stressed.
Colombia has been beset by a 40-year civil war pitting the government against rebels in conflicts that have claimed more than 200,000 lives. Peace talks have been held in recent years to end the decades-long bloodshed.
The foreign ministers also expressed support for Venezuela and criticized the call by US pastor Pat Robertson to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Robertson recently called Chavez "a terrible danger" and asked the US government to "eliminate" him.
Chavez himself has repeatedly accused the US government of attempting to assassinate him amid escalating tensions between the oil-rich country and its importer, the United States.
The group's extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers opened on Thursday in replacement of a planned summit, which was cancelled because of agenda problems.
The foreign ministers held their 25th meeting in July, when they agreed on the summit slated for Aug. 24-26.
The Rio Group, formed in 1986, consists of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS
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