PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- In a personal letter, U.S. President Bill Clinton
                  has urged President-elect Jean-Bertrand Aristide to resolve Haiti's electoral
                  impasse but stopped short of congratulating him on his controversial re-election,
                  the U.S. Embassy said Thursday.

                  Haiti's Senate president, Sen. Yvon Neptune, on Wednesday revealed the
                  existence of the letter, dated Dec. 1, two days after the electoral council
                  confirmed Aristide's victory in Nov. 26 elections.

                  Neptune said the letter addressed Aristide as the "president-elect," which he
                  claimed showed Clinton's tacit recognition of the legitimacy of Aristide's
                  re-election.

                  But U.S. Embassy spokesman Dan Whitman said Clinton did not address the
                  election and did not signal a change in U.S. policy. He refused to release the
                  letter, saying it was "privileged correspondence."

                  Still, he added: "The United States together with the rest of the international
                  community has made it known to the Haitian authorities that their failure to
                  address well-documented election irregularities puts into question their
                  commitment to democracy."

                  Until they address them, some $ 90 million in annual U.S. aid will be channeled
                  through private agencies.

                  The international community has condemned a flawed count in May legislative
                  elections. After the Nov. 26 elections, Aristide's party holds all but one seat in the
                  27-member Senate and 80 percent of seats in the House of Assembly.

                  Charging fraud, all major opposition parties boycotted the presidential election,
                  which Aristide had been expected to win regardless. But there was a low turnout
                  and alleged stuffing of ballot boxes which has the opposition challenging
                  Aristide's mandate.

                  The U.S. State Department said turnout was "low" and independent Haitian radio
                  stations reported a small minority of Haitians voted. But the electoral council,
                  which opposition parties charge is loaded with Aristide supporters, claimed 60.5
                  percent voted. The head of a Caribbean Community monitoring mission, former
                  St. Lucia Premier John Compton, put turnout at 15-20 percent.

                  The 17-party opposition alliance Convergence estimated turnout at 5 percent and
                  is urging Haitians to mobilize for a "peaceful alternative" to what they allege are
                  Aristide's plans to restore a dictatorship in the troubled Caribbean nation.

                  Aristide became Haiti's first freely elected president in 1990 elections following a
                  popular uprising that ended nearly 200 years of dictatorship. After only seven
                  months in office, Aristide ousted in a bloody army coup. Three years later, over
                  Republican Party objections, Clinton sent 20,000 U.S. troops to oust the military,
                  restore Aristide and halt a flood of Haitian boat people to Florida.

                  Aristide, constitutionally barred from serving consecutive five-year terms,
                  reluctantly relinquished power to his protege, President Rene Preval, after
                  December 1995 elections.

                  The U.S. invasion ended military killings estimated at some 4,000 people. Aristide
                  disbanded the army though some political assassinations and intimidation
                  continue.

                  But the U.S. intervention and a subsequent U.N. mission failed to improve living
                  standards in a country where two-thirds of the 8 million people are illiterate and
                  unemployed as democracy failed to take root and international aid steadily dried
                  up.

                  Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended closing the
                  mission, saying it was useless considering the government's questionable
                  legitimacy.

                  Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.