By DON BOHNING
Herald Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- With options dwindling, U.S. officials are hoping for credible
parliamentary elections in Haiti this year to resuscitate a policy beset by
frustration and fatigue.

But even some policymakers admit that the odds of that happening are slim at
best as the country's internal security situation continues to deteriorate, political
pressures on the police leadership increase and the two main political groups --
rival factions of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas movement --
haven't said they will participate.

Officials here note there is a new provisional electoral council whose members are
acceptable to most parties, but their ability to organize a credible election with a
meaningful turnout is in question.

As one U.S. official acknowledged, any elections ``have to pass the smell test.''

Congressional sources also say that Washington's focus on Haiti is fading as
frustrations grow with what is seen as the inability of the country's leadership to
put the common good ahead of personal ambition. With little progress apparent in
Haiti, many congressmen have turned to other priorities.

Foreign policy failure

What focus remains on Haiti is becoming increasingly partisan as the 2000 U.S.
presidential elections approach. Republicans seek to portray Haiti as a policy
failure, not the success the Clinton administration claimed in 1994 when a
bloodless U.S.-led invasion ousted a military dictatorship and restored Aristide to
office.

``If this is the crown jewel of their foreign policy successes, it says a lot about
their foreign policy,'' scoffs Rep. Porter Goss, a Republican from Sanibel who
heads the House Intelligence Committee. ``The situation in Haiti is pathetic.''

Goss is among a handful of congressmen and senators who maintain a
consistent interest in Haiti and still follow events there closely, but who reflect the
widespread frustration found elsewhere in Washington.

``[Haitian leaders] have so exhausted the patience and the aid of the friends of
Haiti that even their most ardent friends are sort of worn out with the Haiti
experiment,'' Goss said in an interview.

The one thing on which there is general agreement is that Aristide is currently the
biggest obstacle to forward movement in Haiti.

``He's our Frankenstein,'' a U.S. official ruefully observed.

Most observers believe it a foregone conclusion that Aristide will be reelected
president in 2000, having sat out the constitutionally required five-year interim
after completing his term in 1995.

Even so, Aristide and his supporters are unhappy with the composition of the new
electoral council, and he is also seen here as the inspiration -- if not the instigator
-- of ongoing, sometimes violent demonstrations against Bob Manuel, the minister
of state for security, who oversees the Haitian National Police.

Police issue critical

The police are regarded as one of the few success stories since the U.S.
intervention in Haiti. Undermanned, underequipped and undertrained, they are still
credited with maintaining a political neutrality under Manuel and Pierre Denize,
their director-general.

The outcome of the effort to get rid of Manuel is seen as critical in whether the
police remain a nonpolitical organization or become the instrument for another
strongman to gain and retain power. The perception here is that Manuel has been
strengthened as a result of the protests that have failed to dislodge him.

Manuel also led the negotiations for a political agreement in March with a
half-dozen smaller political groups, paving the way for a new electoral council and
parliamentary elections, developments that Aristide has not shown any
enthusiasm for.

The demonstrators have been demanding that President Rene Preval get rid of
both Manuel and Denize. The pressure against them has prompted U.S.
Ambassador Timothy Carney and Julian Harston, head of the United Nations
Mission in Haiti, to issue public statements of support for the police leadership.

Preval -- at least in public -- has yet to forcefully defend Manuel, a longtime friend,
or Denize, although in a flag day speech last week he did tell Haitians they ``must
support the police.''

Aristide is still considered Preval's political mentor, but there is now considerable
speculation both in Washington and Haiti of strains between the two over the
efforts to get rid of Manuel.

``It's time for Preval to come out of his crouch,'' said a congressional staffer.

And the Republicans are stepping up the pressure.

Funding on hold

They have conditioned funding for electoral assistance to Haiti on a ``transparent
resolution'' to the still disputed April 1997 elections in which two members of
Aristide's Family Lavalas were declared Senate winners.

The view in Washington is that the new electoral council is leaning toward
nullifying the elections and including the two seats on the ballot in new
parliamentary elections.

Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., and Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., chairmen of the
House and Senate foreign affairs committees, have also put a hold on $1.6 million
for the Organization of American States to fund human rights monitoring by a joint
OAS-UN civilian mission in Haiti.

``The international community needs to be up front about who is responsible for
the violence and climate of insecurity in Haiti, including the demonstrations
against Manuel,'' says a Republican congressional staffer. ``What's needed is to
get it out in the open.''

Gilman and Helms are asking that the $1.6 million be used to develop an
indigenous human rights monitoring body as an alternative.