Today in history: Haiti military coup leaders agree to Aristide’s return 

On Sept. 18, 1994, Haiti’s military leaders agreed to relinquish power and allow the return of democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, averting a forced United States military intervention scheduled for the following day.

The agreement came three years after a military coup overthrew Aristide on Sept. 30, 1991, and after years of international efforts to restore Haiti’s constitutional government.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter led the final diplomatic push, along with then-Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia and retired Gen. Colin Powell, who had served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The three traveled to Haiti on Sept. 17 at President Bill Clinton’s request, who authorized the mission while keeping the U.S. military operation on schedule.

A last-minute diplomatic mission

The Carter-Nunn-Powell delegation arrived in Haiti with little time to reach an agreement. The Clinton administration had secured U.N. authorization for the use of force to restore Haiti’s elected government and had prepared an invasion force of nearly 25,000 military personnel under Operation Uphold Democracy. The operation was scheduled to begin Sept. 19.

Through his Carter Center, the late President Carter had been involved in Haiti well before the 1994 crisis. He supported Haiti’s electoral process in 1987 and helped monitor the December 1990 election, in which Aristide was elected. After the 1991 coup, the center continued working with international efforts to restore constitutional government.

Carter, Nunn and Powell met with Gen. Raoul Cédras and other Haitian officials as negotiations continued through the night of Sept. 17 and into Sept. 18.

The talks nearly collapsed after Haitian military officials learned that U.S. troops were already moving toward Haiti. Carter later recalled that Brig. Gen. Philippe Biamby accused the delegation of using the negotiations to distract Haiti’s military leadership while U.S. forces prepared to enter the country.

The delegation eventually met with Haiti’s provisional president, Émile Jonassaint. According to Carter’s account, he made a final appeal to Jonassaint, who responded that Haiti would choose peace.

Jonassaint and Cédras then signed an agreement under which the military leadership would leave power and Aristide would return as president by Oct. 15.

The agreement did not cancel the U.S. operation. Instead, it changed how the operation would unfold. U.S. troops entered Haiti beginning Sept. 19 as part of a peaceful transition rather than through a forced-entry invasion. The U.S. military worked with Haitian forces to facilitate the transfer of power.

Aristide returned to Haiti on Oct. 15, 1994 — three years after he had been overthrown. The U.S.-led operation eventually transitioned to a U.N. mission, and Haiti held presidential elections in 1995.

The Sept. 18 agreement became a pivotal moment in Haiti’s post-coup history and in Haiti-U.S. relations, demonstrating how negotiations conducted under the pressure of imminent military action produced a peaceful transfer of power rather than a forced invasion.

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