INDEPTH: HAITI
Timeline
CBC News Online | May 15, 2006
May 14, 2006:
Two months after his election – and two years after the ouster of his predecessor, Jean-Bertrand Aristide – René Préval is sworn in as president of Haiti. It is the second time Préval holds the office, having been president from 1996 to 2001.
CBC STORY: Haitian president calls for peace as 4,500 troops patrol the streets
May 13, 2006:
Canadian Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean begins a four-day visit to Haiti, the country of her birth. Her visit would include the inauguration of president-elect René Préval.
CBC STORY: Governor General visits Haiti
Feb. 22, 2006:
Haiti's president-elect, René Préval, says he's ready to end the exile of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide was forced to flee after a violent rebellion and says he's ready to end his exile. Préval was once a protegé of Aristide.
CBC STORY: Haiti's Préval ready to welcome Aristide back home
Feb. 16, 2006:
Haiti's interim government and the electoral council declare René Préval the winner of the presidential election. After 90 per cent of the ballots were counted, Préval had slightly fewer than 50 per cent of the votes needed to avoid a run-off election in March. Brazil brokered a deal in which 85,000 blank votes were not counted. Blank votes are normally counted, but the sheer number of them in this vote was considered suspect.
Préval is expected to take office March 29.
CBC STORY: Préval declared winner in Haiti
Feb. 15, 2006:
The United Nations launches an investigation after UN peacekeepers recover ballot boxes from a Haitian garbage dump amid allegations that the presidential vote was marred by fraud. The UN also announced the extension of its peacekeeping mission in the country for an additional six months.
CBC STORY: UN investigates election materials found in Haiti dump
Feb. 14, 2006:
Préval tells reporters, "We have observed there have been gross errors and probably gigantic fraud." The interim government of Haiti orders a review of election results and stops counting ballots.
Préval encourages his supporters to continue demonstrations, but calls for calm. "I ask the Haitian people... to be mature, to be responsible, to be non-violent," he says.
CBC STORY: Haiti orders review of election results amid fraud allegations
Feb. 13, 2006:
Supporters of Haitian presidential election front-runner René Préval demonstrate in Port-au-Prince. Witnesses say UN peacekeepers open fire on the crowd, killing one person and injuring four others. A UN spokesperson denies the shots came from the peacekeepers. The demonstrators were demanding Préval be declared the winner of the election.
CBC STORY: UN accused as gunfire erupts during Haiti election protests
Pierre Richard Duchemin, an electoral council member, says, "there's a certain level of manipulation" in the vote, and calls for an investigation.
CBC STORY: Tensions high in Haiti, election official wants investigation
The published election results show Préval with 48.7 per cent of the ballots. A candidate must receive 50 per cent plus one vote to win outright and avoid a March run-off election.
The first concrete evidence of election tampering turns up in the evening, as hundreds of ballots marked for Préval are found at a garbage dump.
Feb. 12, 2006:
Five days after the vote, ballots are still being counted. Supporters of front-runner René Préval say they're worried the electoral council is trying to block his victory.
CBC STORY: Préval backers frustrated with Haiti's electoral council
Feb. 11, 2006:
Supporters of René Préval march through the streets of Port-au-Prince, celebrating what they see as a victory for their candidate, although no official vote count has been published.
CBC STORY: Préval leading in Haitian election results
Feb. 9, 2006:
Unofficial results in Haiti's presidential and parliamentary election show former president René Préval leading all other candidates. "If he doesn't win, we will completely destroy the country," Haitian voter Franz Duha tells CBC News.
CBC STORY: Préval leading in Haitian election results
Feb. 7, 2006: Polls open in the first presidential elections in Haiti in six years. Confusion over when and where to vote in the capital of Port-au-Prince prompt officials to extend voting hours by two hours.
CBC STORY: Voting hours extended in Haitian election
Jan 9, 2006: Haitians stage a general strike to pressure UN peacekeepers to crack down on gang violence. The strike, organized by the Haitian Chamber of Commerce, shuts down bus service, banks, supermarkets and other businesses in the capital.
CBC STORY: Haitians shut down capital in strike aimed at UN force
Jan. 7, 2006: Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar, the Brazilian commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti, is found dead on the balcony of his hotel room. The UN and the Brazilian government would later rule his death a suicide.
CBC STORY: UN commander in Haiti found dead
December 2005: Former RCMP officer Mark Bourque, who was working with a UN team helping to prepare for the country's elections, is killed by gunmen in an ambush while driving through a violent neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince.
CBC STORY: Former RCMP officer killed in Haiti remembered, mourned
CBC STORY: UN probes death of Canadian in Haiti
CBC STORY: Ottawa demands answers in death of Canadian peacekeeper in Haiti
CBC STORY: Canadian peacekeeper shot by Haitian gunmen
Nov. 25, 2005: Haiti announces it will be delaying elections for the second time. The vote is now scheduled for early 2006. The elections will be the first since 2004 when President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced out.
CBC STORY: Haiti delays elections until new year
October 2005: Tropical storms and hurricanes bring more mudslides and flooding to Haiti, while it is still struggling to recover from 2004's hurricane Jeanne and hurricane Dennis just a few months before.
CBC STORY: Storm kills 10 before folding into Wilma
CBC STORY: Wilma could grow into 'major' hurricane
Aug. 19, 2005: Canadian Denis Therrien is shot and killed while trying to escape a kidnapping attempt. He had been working in Haiti for nearly a year.
CBC STORY: Canadian killed in Haiti fleeing from kidnappers
July 11, 2005: Haiti begins cleaning up after hurricane Dennis killed 11 people and left hundreds of families homeless.
CBC STORY: Haiti, Cuba tally hurricane deaths
June 2005: The kidnapping and killing of a Haitian aid worker followed on the heels of an announcement by Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs warning Canadians to avoid the country. The announcement followed a violent month, with the abduction of a Canadian working in Haiti and the killing of a French diplomat.
CBC STORY: French diplomat murdered in Haiti
CBC STORY: Canadian woman, 65, kidnapped in Haiti
CBC STORY: Canadian kidnapped in Haiti released
CBC STORY: Canadian abducted in Haiti says captors beat her
CBC STORY: Ottawa warns Canadians to avoid Haiti
CBC STORY: Red Cross worker murdered in Haiti
April 9, 2005: Haitian police shoot and kill a rebel leader who helped oust former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide last year. Remissainthe Ravix was wanted by police and was one of four main architects of a bloody three-week revolt that forced Aristide to flee the country in early 2004.
CBC STORY: Haitian police kill rebel leader
March 20, 2005: UN troops loses two peacekeepers in their biggest battle since the mission started. The shootout kills four people, including the two UN peacekeepers.
CBC STORY: 2 UN troops killed in clash in Haiti
Feb. 28, 2005: Militant supporters of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide rally to mark the one-year anniversary since he left power. At least two people are killed during the demonstrations at a police roadblock in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.
CBC STORY: 2 killed in Haiti violence
Jan. 10, 2005. Canada pledges $17 million in aid to help Haiti hold elections. Haiti has been without a legislature since an armed uprising prompted former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to leave the country.
CBC STORY: Canada pledges aid for Haitian elections
December 2004: Hundreds of UN peacekeepers swarm a Port-au-Prince slum trying to re-establish law and order. The actions take place just days after the interim prime minister of Haiti Gerard Latortue met with Prime Minister Paul Martin in Montreal.
CBC STORY: UN peacekeepers invade Haiti slum
CBC STORY: Canada to help rebuild Haiti's judicial system
November 2004: Violence continues in the streets of Haiti, with accusations flying at both police and gangs of armed thugs of various political bents. The lack of security is making aid delivery to some areas impossible.
CBC STORY: Haiti's street kids fear killings by police
Oct. 12, 2004: Five police officers are killed as clashes between police and supporters of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide continued. Seventeen people die in the violence in the past week.
CBC STORY: Aristide supporters continue demonstrations in Haiti
September 2004: Violence is widespread as Haiti struggles to recover from the flooding and mudslides caused by hurricane Jeanne. The insecurity makes aid delivery to more than 8,000 people living in temporary shelters in the city of Gonaives, and those across the country, difficult.
CBC STORY: Violence erupts in Haiti as survivors fight for food and water
CBC STORY: Relief convoy attacked in Haiti, government considering evacuation of Gonaives
CBC STORY: Haiti death toll rises to 2,400 as Pettigrew due to visit
CBC STORY: Canada’s disaster relief team not needed in Haiti: Pettigrew
CBC STORY: Aid distribution still a nightmare in Haiti
Sept. 19, 2004: Tropical storm Jeanne strikes Haiti, causing flooding and mudslides in the northwest of the country, especially the city of Gonaives.
CBC STORY: Tensions mount in aftermath of Jeanne
CBC STORY: More than 1,000 dead in Haiti
CBC STORY: Canada sends supplies to storm-ravaged Haiti
Aug. 16, 2004: The last contingent of Canadian troops, 82 soldiers from CFB Gagetown, N.B., and CFB Trenton, Ont., returns from Haiti. A handful of Canadian soldiers remains in Haiti to oversee the shipment of heavy equipment back to Canada.
Aug. 12, 2004: Canadian ambassador to Haiti, Kenneth Cook, announces $2 million in funding for reconstruction projects just hours before ending his tenure.
July 18, 2004: Ottawa announces a donation of $180 million over the next two years to boost reconstruction and development in Haiti.
CBC STORY: Canada promises $180M to Haiti over two years
July 6, 2004: Prime Minister Paul Martin announces that 100 Canadian police officers, mostly from the RCMP, will be stationed in Haiti for two years.
CBC STORY: Canada sends 100 police to Haiti
June 6, 2004: After three months in Haiti, the first group of Canadian peacekeepers, 37 in all, returns to New Brunswick.
CBC News: First group of Canadian soldiers return from Haiti
June 1, 2004: The UN takes over responsibility for security in Haiti, designating a force of 8,000 army troops and police from 30 countries, to be led by Brazilian Gen. Augusto Heleno Ribeiro.
CBC News: UN peacekeeping force arrives in flood-ravaged Haiti
May 31, 2004: Ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide leaves Jamaica for asylum in South Africa. South African President Thabo Mbeki and other African officials meet Aristide on his arrival in Johannesburg, a gesture usually reserved for acting heads of state.
May 24, 2004: Two rivers on the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti burst their banks because of torrential rains, causing floods that would kill about 1,400 people in both countries.
CBC News: Death toll raised in Dominican Republic, Haiti flooding
CBC News: Food, supplies shipped to Haiti aid effort
May 18, 2004: Haitian police use tear gas to break up a rally of about 10,000 people in support of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country's ousted president.
CBC News: Haitian police break up pro-Aristide rally
March 19, 2004: Haiti's former security chief is deported to the U.S. from Toronto, where he was detained the previous week.
CBC News: Aristide's former security chief extradited to U.S.
March 17, 2004: Canada deploys 170 more soldiers from CFB Gagetown, N.B., to Port-au-Prince. Defence Minister David Pratt says Canada may have to extend its military mission in Haiti beyond the 90-day commitment.
CBC News: 170 Canadian soldiers arrive in Haiti
March 15, 2004: Former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide leaves the Central African Republic, where he'd been in exile since being ousted, for Jamaica.
CBC News: Aristide heads back to Caribbean
March 12, 2004: About 80 Canadian soldiers based in CFB Gagetown, N.B., and CFB Kingston, Ont., leave for Haiti to join an international peacekeeping force. The security chief of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide is detained at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
CBC Story: Canadian troops head to Haiti
March 9, 2004: The U.S.-backed Council of Sages names former foreign minister and UN official Gerard Latortue the new interim prime minister of Haiti.
CBC News: Haiti council names new prime minister
March 7, 2004: Gunshots fired at crowd of anti-Aristide demonstrators demanding ousted president be prosecuted. A Canadian advance team lands in Haiti to prepare for arrival of 400 Canadian soldiers.
CBC News: Anti-Aristide rally turns deadly
March 5, 2004: Canada decides to send 425 troops for a 90-day mission. Force includes three infantry platoons, six helicopters and members of India Company. They will help patrol, provide humanitarian assistance, assist police and provide protection.
CBC News: Canada to send more soldiers to Haiti
March 3, 2004: Rebels promise to disarm, co-operate with foreign troops. U.S. marines provide protection to fleeing government officials.
CBC News: Haitian rebels to lay down arms
March 2, 2004: Rebel leader Guy Philippe says he wants to rebuild and lead Haiti's military.
CBC News: Haitian rebel leader declares himself military chief
CBC News: Aristide accuses U.S. of forcing him out
March 1, 2004: Jean-Bertrand Aristide arrives in the Central African Republic as rebels approach the Haitian capital. Aristide accuses the U.S. of forcing him out of office in a coup d'état. French troops arrive in Port-au-Prince as part of the UN-approved international force. Rebel forces enter the capital and its suburbs.
CBC News: Troops begin to restore order in Haiti
Feb. 29, 2004: Aristide resigns the presidency and flees Haiti as rebels approach the capital. The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a multinational military force to restore order to the country.
CBC News: UN backs U.S.-led force in Haiti
Feb. 25, 2004: Haiti's political opposition rejects an international peace plan. Ottawa announces it will send nine members of the Canadian special operations unit Joint Task Force 2 to Haiti to support the evacuation team.
CBC News: France blames Aristide for Haiti chaos
CBC News: Haiti's democratic opposition rejects peace plan
Feb. 24, 2004: Aristide appeals to the world for aid as rebels threaten the capital. A small Canadian assessment team arrives in Haiti to prepare to evacuate 1,000 Canadians.
CBC News: Haiti's Aristide asks the world for help
Feb. 23, 2004: Rebels capture Cap-Haitien, the country's second-largest city. About 50 U.S. marines land in Haiti to protect the American Embassy and other U.S. facilities in Port-au-Prince.
CBC News: U.S. marines land in Haiti
Feb. 18, 2004: Neptune and Aristide warn Haiti faces a coup. Appeal for international intervention to quash uprising. Aid agencies say Haiti is on the verge of a civil war. U.S. and France reluctant to send soldiers to Haiti.
CBC News: Coup d'etat in motion, Haiti's PM warns
Feb. 17, 2004: Canada kicks in more than $1 million for food and medical aid in Haiti. The money will be sent to the World Food Program ($800,000) and the International Red Cross ($350,000). Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham says Canada would consider sending 100 police officers to Haiti if a political solution is reached. Much of northern Haiti under rebel control. The Dominican Republic closes border with Haiti fearing mass exodus of Haitians.
CBC News: Canada kicks in $1 million for Haiti
Feb. 13, 2004: Canada and the U.S. push for diplomatic means to end rebellion in Haiti and warn rebels, who accuse Aristide of rigging his 2000 election victory, not to force him out of office. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell tells Aristide to call off his "thugs" and work with opposition members to end the violence.
CBC News: Powell, Graham urge Aristide to end violence
Feb. 11, 2004: UN warns that 270,000 Haitians could face food shortage if fighting continues to delay delivery of food aid. A United Nations assessment team goes to Haiti to prepare a contingency plan in case the situation worsens.
CBC News: Haiti, Lesotho face severe food shortages: UN
Feb. 9, 2004: Four days of rioting cause as many as 40 deaths and widespread looting. Pressure put on Aristide to resign. Aristide says he will serve out his term, which runs until 2006. Prime Minister Yvon Neptune makes accusations about a coup to overthrow Aristide. Rebels take control of major centers of Gonaives, St-Marc and Grand Goave, setting fires and blocking roads.
CBC News: Dozens killed in Haitian riots
Jan. 14, 2004: Aristide, facing violent street protests and opposition charges of corruption, announces that parliamentary elections will be held within six months.
CBC News: Aristide's plan for parliamentary elections criticized
Jan. 1, 2004: Haiti marks 200th anniversary of its independence from France; supporters and opponents of Aristide stage demonstrations.
CBC News: Political division marks Haiti's bicentennial
2001: Aristide is sworn in as president; his political rivals deny legitimacy of his government and continue to demand new elections be held; Amnesty International says human rights and rule of law has diminished in Haiti, citing harassment of opposition politicians and attacks on journalists.
CBC News: Haiti tense on presidential inauguration day (Feb. 7, 2001)
CBC News: Aristide unhurt in attempted coup (Dec. 17, 2001)
November 2000: In parliamentary and presidential elections, the Lavalas Platform wins a majority of seats in both legislative houses, and Aristide is re-elected. International community questions fairness of elections, and opposition parties boycott them.
CBC News: Aristide wins overwhelming majority in Haiti vote (Nov. 30, 2000)
CBC News: Voting ends, counting begins in Haiti (May 21, 2000)
CBC News: France considers prosecuting Haiti's 'Baby Doc' (Dec. 9, 1998)
December 1995: Aristide's handpicked successor, René Préval, is elected president. Haiti's government soon lapses into disarray as a divided legislature is unable to approve government budgets or authorize distribution of foreign aid.
June 1995: The Lavalas Platform, a three-party coalition endorsed by Aristide, is victorious in general elections. International observers report violations of election procedures, including unopened ballots, poor ballot distribution, and lack of information for voters.
October 1994: President Aristide returns to Haiti.
September 1994: Faced with the threat of U.S. invasion, Haiti's military regime agrees to hand over power to Aristide; UN lifts embargo.
1994: United Nations imposes broad sanctions against Haiti's military rulers. The new sanctions, aimed at forcing them to step down and allow Aristide to return to power, permit only food and medicine to be shipped into Haiti.
1993: Aristide and Haitian military agree on plan for Aristide's reinstatement as head of democratic government but military rulers refuse to step down.
September 1991: Military coup sends Aristide into exile in U.S.
December 1990: Jean-Bertrand Aristide wins landslide presidential victory in internationally supervised election, taking 67% of the votes.
1988: Less than 10 per cent of voters turn out for the first elections in Haiti since the Duvalier era. President Leslie- François Manigat is deposed in a military coup five months later. Namphy declares himself head of a military government and abolishes the 1987 constitution.
1987: A referendum ratifies a new constitution.
1986: The Duvalier family leaves Haiti following riots across the country. A national council of civilian and military leaders takes control, with General Henri Namphy as president.
1971: Jean-Claude Duvalier, called "Baby Doc," succeeds his father.
1957: François Duvalier, known as "Papa Doc," is elected president. He proclaims himself president-for-life and remains in office until his death.
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