U.S. ambassador to Haiti steps down
14 years ago
BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
[email protected]
Mideast expert and career diplomat Janet Sanderson landed in a deeply polarized Haiti 3 ½ years ago to dizzying curiosity: Some in this highly machismo culture, puzzled by the appointment, doubted whether she would succeed.
Now, as Sanderson leaves her post as the United States' top envoy in Haiti, observers say she was a much better fit than many first assumed.
'She was a very good ambassador, very respectful of the country,' said René Max Auguste, president of the Haitian-American Chamber of Commerce, which hosted both her welcome and farewell dinners. ``She would try to solve problems through dialogue. The problem she realized is that President [René] Préval could have done much more as far as his leadership actions, guiding the country for change.'
In a vexing and often turbulent Haiti, where many an envoy have left frustrated and traumatized, Sanderson, 54, is considered a survivor. She has lasted longer than her predecessor, and unlike the ambassador before him, she isn't leaving in anger.
And unlike other Haiti envoys who have fled into retirement, Sanderson is continuing with her career, and has been rewarded with a job in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department.
`REAL PASSION'
'It's been quite a ride,' she said. ``The interest of my government has coincided with my very real passion for trying to help the people that I've met. And this is a remarkable country, and it's a country that's not been well-served in the past and Haitians deserve better.'
She leaves a country in some ways very different than the one she found in March 2006.
'When I first got here, nobody was going out, there were no police on the streets, no elected president in office, no functioning parliament. It was unclear to a certain extent what direction the country was going,' she said in a rare interview, admitting to her own moments of frustration and weariness.
``Certainly for the first two years of my tenure here there was a great sense of enthusiasm: elections, improved security and an effort to build political consensus.'
Far from being the lightning rod that characterized predecessors, Sanderson was more a quiet force, an unusually reserved American ambassador who favored behind-the-scenes politicking to grandstanding.
Even now she jokes that among the things she won't miss are the entourage and required bullet-proof chauffeured embassy SUVs as she was whisked around the country calling on government officials, inaugurating U.S.-financed projects and escorting a bevy of congressional delegations to the presidential palace.
For 3 ½ years, home has been a sprawling mansion where the manicured lawn -- with the tennis court in the front and large swimming pool in the back -- has played host to July 4th parties, cocktail receptions and frank breakfast discussions.
It will soon be replaced with a tiny Washington condo packed with prized Haitian art, and Middle East collectibles from postings in Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan and Algeria, where she first served as an ambassador during the Clinton administration.
'I am proud of what our team has accomplished,' she said. ``We really have reached out beyond Port-au-Prince and reached out beyond the normal levels of contacts.'
Sanderson's tenure, say Haiti observers, reflects not just her own even-keeled temperament, but the changing tenor of U.S. policy in Haiti following years of political turmoil when the United States was seen as an aggressive bully favoring regime change but speaking with a contradictory voice.
'Haiti has traumatized virtually every U.S. ambassador posted to the country since the end of the Cold War, and most left behind a nation in trauma,' said Daniel Erikson, with the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington. ``Janet Sanderson appears to be the exception.'
But rather than credit Sanderson's 'level headed approach' to her success, Erikson said she benefited from timing.
'While the food riots and hurricanes that struck Haiti in 2008 were severely disruptive, even these dramatic events paled in comparison to the uprisings, stolen elections, dissolved parliaments, and especially the 2004 ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide,' he said.
Today, U.S. policy is viewed as more diplomatic and bipartisan, with Sanderson supporters lauding her for allowing a Brazilian-led U.N. Stabilization Mission, and nations like Canada to take the lead on some projects even as the United States remains a major player as Haiti's biggest aid donor.
'[Haiti] is an extraordinarily complicated and complex country. And I think it's difficult for foreigners to understand,' Sanderson said.
``This position in the past for better or for worse has been controversial. That's inevitable given the close relationship between the United States and Haiti, very few people are neutral about the United States and the American ambassador.
``Whomever is sitting in this chair, draws the flowers or draws the fire, depending on how things are going. But I think sometimes it's better to be receiving advice, rather than giving it. '
Critics, however, say the United States is no longer the power player in Haitian politics and that has hampered Sanderson's ability to be an effective voice on critical issues confronting the country.
And then, there is her relationship with Préval. While he declined to attend her farewell dinner or reception, he held a private lunch in her honor at the National Palace.
STRAINED RELATIONS
The warm send-off was a departure from the strained relationship observed by insiders, who said Sanderson's blunt conversations and refusal to say 'yes' to more than one of his requests -- including funding the delivery of hundreds of portable classrooms from South Florida -- did little to improve relations between the two. Another major sticking point: The U.S. failure to arrest drug traffickers, and provide additional resources to fight trafficking.
'It is a regret that we have not been able to, until recently, mobilize more resources in the war on drugs. It is a very serious issue here and I share the president's concerns. I have all along,' Sanderson said.
But she noted, ``this has to be a partnership and you can't sort of turn over responsibility for such a major national issue to the United States only. We need better laws here if we are going to help the Haitians defeat the drug dealers and drug traffickers.'
Préval declined to be interviewed.
Rudolph Boulos, a former Haitian senator, said better relations would have made the United States a more powerful partner.
'From the beginning, President Préval did not give her the weight she should have had as the representative of the United States,' he said, noting that on more than one occasion Préval would disregard her opinion.
Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon calls Sanderson one of his best ambassadors.
'She's someone who's tough, who's smart and who understands the environment that she and the United States have been in Haiti in a profound way,' he told The Miami Herald.
Foreign diplomats praised her passion for the country.
'She is one of the few ambassadors who were seen in Cité Soleil at a time when the Haitian prime minister would not risk going,' said Claude Boucher, Canada's former ambassador to Haiti. ``In all circumstances, she insisted that it was up to the Haitian leaders and the Haitian institutions to take the appropriate measures to tackle the challenges the country was facing.'
Miami Herald writer Luis Henao contributed to this report.
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