Brazil's Foreign Minister Celso Amorim asked U.S. counterpart Condoleezza Rice to organize a U.N. Security Council meeting on post-election tensions in Haiti, officials in Brasilia said Monday. The United States is president of the Security Council for the month of February and has the power to set its agenda. Brazil commands the 9,300-strong U.N. stabilization force in Haiti. Amorim "received a phone call from Rice, during which they spoke of Haiti, and Amorim suggested organizing a Security Council meeting" on the situation in the impoverished Caribbean nation, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Rice "appeared favorable to examining the matter," the spokesman added. Amorim later instructed Brazil's U.N. ambassador, Ronaldo Saldenberg, to hold consultations with countries leading international efforts to bring stability to Haiti, the spokesman said. Violent protests have erupted in Haiti as it waits for the results of presidential and legislative elections, the first since former President Jean Bertrand Aristide was ousted two years ago amid an armed rebellion. Thousands of supporters of leading candidate Rene Preval have demanded he be named president, even though results indicate Preval did not win the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff election.
