General information
Part of Conflict: Haiti: Government
Date of first stated goals of incompatibility: 1991-09-01
Comment on date of first stated goal of incompatibility: A source to the military said that the uprising began because the Engin Lourd believed that it was to be replaced by a Swiss trained force loyal to President Aristide. General Cedras accused President Aristide of running the country like past dictatorships and described the military takeover as a correction of the democratic process.
Date of first use of armed force: 1991-09-29
Comment on date of first use of armed force: The uprising begun at an army training camp just east of Port-au-Prince.
First Battle Related Death: 1991-09-30
Comment on First Battle Related Death: At least 15 people were reported dead on 30 September after mutinous soldiers fired at the home of President Aristide.
Date when dyad reached 25 battle releated deaths: 1991-10-02
Comment on date when dyad reached 25 battle related deaths: At least 150 people has been reported killed during the coup which resulted in Aristides going into exile on 2 October.
Conflict issues
Conflict Goal Issues: The military faction (forces of Raol Cédras) was a revolutionary rebel group made up of dissidents from the Haitian military supporting Brigadier General Raol Cédras in an ultimately successful attempt to oust the President of Haiti Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991. The group was characterized by a stated desire to return Haiti to democracy and the disbandment of a Swiss-trained commando unit. During its brief existence as a rebel group, the forces of Raol Cédras stated several conflict goal issues. The group called for the ousting of the government and its leader President Aristide which would result in the reestablishment of a democratic state structure, restoration of constitutional rights to the people of Haiti, the disbandment of a Swiss-trained “elite militia under Mr. Aristide's direct command”, and the appointment of new officers into the military structure. The forces of Raol Cédras also called for law and order to be established, for elections to be held, and for executive and parliamentary reform, stating the group’s intentions to reestablish respect for the countryg’s institution and a cessation of government control over the law, the army, and the parliament.
Conflict Dynamics Issues: During 1991, the forces of Raol Cédras stated one conflict dynamics issue when it motivated the coup as a necessity to “halt human rights abuses and violations of the Constitution by President Aristide's Government”, accusing the government of abuses against the Haitian civilian population.
Conflict Resolution Issues: The project coded no statements from the forces of Raol Cédras pertaining to conflict resolution issues.
Type of conflict issues: Conflict Goal Issues: Civil rights, Constitutional issues, CPS: Democracy, Disband para-military forces, Hold elections, Law and order, Opposition to restructure military forces, Oust full executive, Oust head of the executive, Reform judicial system, Reform parliament, Restructure military forces
Conflict Dynamics Issues: Atrocities and abuses
Conflict Resolution Issues:
Annual information
This section contains annual information systematically collected by the UCDP.
1991
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 359 |
| Best | 160 |
| Low | 55 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Government of Haiti): n/a
Side B (Military faction (forces of Raoul Cédras) ): n/a
1992
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Government of Haiti): n/a
Side B (Military faction (forces of Raoul Cédras) ): n/a
1993
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Government of Haiti): n/a
Side B (Military faction (forces of Raoul Cédras) ): n/a
Peace agreements
Name of peace agreement: The Governors Island agreement
Date when warring parties signed the agreement: 1993-07-03
Comment of peace agreement: Peace process agreement
The Governor’s Island agreement was a 10-point peace plan signed on Governors Island, New York, by Cédras, leader of the military junta on Haiti, and president in exile Aristide on 3 July 1993.
The agreement provided for the resignation of Cédras and the appointment by Aristide of new armed forces and the adoption of a law creating a new police and the appointment of a new police chief by Aristide.
The incompatibility was going to be solved by Aristide’s return to Haiti on 30 October 1993. The appointment by Aristide of a new Prime Minister, the ratification of the Prime Minister’s appointment by a ”normal” Haitian National Assembly, the suspension of UN and OAS trade sanctions once the new Prime Minister took office and the start of exchanges among political parties under UN-OAS auspices to put the country under the path to normality.
One of the main points of the agreement was granting Aristide an amnesty. The terms also talked about international cooperation, consisting of technical aid and assistance, to make administrative and judicial reforms and to modernize armed forces, and UN and OAS verification of full compliance with the agreement.
Signatories: President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
General Raol Cédras
Comment of signatories: Dyadic peace agreement
The democratically elected and overthrown President Aristide and the military leader Cédras who overthrew Aristide.
Third parties: UN, OAS
Comment of third parties role in peace agreement: The peace agreement was mediated by the UN and OAS to resolve the political crisis in Haiti.
Ended: True
Date agreement ended: 1993-10-29
Comment of Duration: 29 October 1993 when the UN issued a statement condemning the failure of Haiti’s military leaders to comply with the July Governor’s Island agreement, thus preventing the return to the country by 30 October of President Aristide.
On 31 October at a news conference Emmanuel Constant, secretary-general of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH), called for, on behalf of a coalition of groups against Aristide, the suspension of the Governors Island agreement. He called for the immediate application of Article 149 of the Constitution, in which the chief justice of the Supreme Court would assume power pending the holding of fresh elections in event of the permanent absence of the president.
Full-text peace agreement
1994
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 0 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (Government of Haiti): n/a
Side B (Military faction (forces of Raoul Cédras) ): n/a
Dyad Archive
This section contains annual information no longer systematically collected by the UCDP.
1991 Dyad Archive
Negotiations: YES
Comment on Negotiations: In the beginning of October there were talks between General Raoul Cedras, the armys commander in chief, and OAS at the international airport near Port-au-Prince. OAS demanded father Aristides reinstatement. Cedras refused to reinstate the elected president Aristide and blamed him of having committed constitutional violence during his seven months in power. The army proposed that the chief justice of the Haitian Supreme Court form an interim administration that would organize new elections within 90 days. Talks were interrupted on 7 October by soldiers who announced that the senate had approved the appointment of supreme court president Joseph Nerette as interim President. Aristide assured that he was willing to find a national solution to the crisis and claimed that he was willing to dismiss his controversial Prime Minister René Préval but insisted on the arrest and trial of the coup leader Raoul Cedras. On 24-25 November there were face-to-face negotiations in Cartagena, Colombia between Aristide and a delegation of Haitian law-makers on resolving their nations constitutional crisis. Mediators described the talks as cordial and constructive, but they didnt solve any of the core issues and no further peace talks were planned. In the end of December there were peace talks between OAS and the Haitian political and military leaders. Aristide had authorised for Ramirez Ocampo, OAS, to announce that he accepted the Communist Party leader, René Théodore, as Prime Minister "if it is the will of the parliamentary authority" since that would mean the will of the Haitian people. The military opposed Aristides return but has pledged to go along with the civilian authorities.
Victory: YES
Victorious side: B
Terminated: YES
Type of termination: Victory
Date of termination: 1991-10-01
Comment on Termination: President Aristide was forced into exile on 1 October 1991.
1992 Dyad Archive
Terminated: NO
1993 Dyad Archive
Terminated: NO
1994 Dyad Archive
Terminated: NO
