World Notes Haiti

Since soldiers overthrew Haiti's first freely elected President five months ago, restoring a functioning democracy has not proved easy. Last week, in an attempt to lift the crippling economic embargo imposed on the military-backed government by the Organization of American States, top politicians of the hemisphere's poorest country struck a complex deal at OAS headquarters in Washington.

The agreement calls for the eventual return to office of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a populist priest and champion of the poor; the formation of a Cabinet of national unity under Prime Minister-designate Rene Theodore, a former Aristide rival and Communist Party moderate; and a general amnesty for those involved in the coup.

The eggshell fragility of the compromise quickly became evident, however, when Aristide promptly declared that the amnesty must not cover the top putsch leader, army chief Lieut. General Raoul Cedras, whom he labeled a common criminal. The vaguely worded accord, which needs to be ratified by Haiti's Parliament, was a "miracle," said an OAS diplomat, "but we'll need another miracle to make it stick."