Aristide Offers to Deal

If the solution to Haiti's miseries lies in compromise, Jean-Bertrand Aristide has now gone at least half the distance separating him and his adversaries. In a radio address taped from exile in Washington, the Caribbean nation's first democratically elected President reiterated an offer of political amnesty to the army commanders who deposed him 18 months ago. In return for such a pardon, Aristide demanded reinstatement as President and pleaded with the military to "suspend your killing now."

Aristide's gesture came amid a flurry of other diplomatic activity. The Clinton Administration let it be known that the U.S. might send a contingent of military advisers to help rebuild the impoverished nation following Aristide's return. The United Nations' special envoy for Haitian affairs, Argentine Dante Caputo, arrived in Port-au-Prince to serve as a mediator in the expected negotiations. But army commanders declined to meet with him, flatly rejecting the amnesty offer.