Émile Jonassaint

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Émile Jonassaint (b. 1913, Port-de-Paix --d. October 24, 1995, Port-au-Prince) was a Haïtian Supreme Court Justice and political figure. He served as provisional president of Haiti for five months (May 11 and October 12) in 1994 as the figurehead of the military regime that had overthrown the elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in 1991. During his presidency, he oversaw some of the regime's harshest human rights abuses.

Throughout 1994 the U.S. government put pressure on the repressive Haitian military regime (of which Jonassaint was the figurehead) to resign and allow the elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to return to the country and restore democracy. On July 31, 1994 the UN Security Council called for all necessary means to be taken to oust the regime (Resolution 917), authorizing the U.S. to invade Haiti. About 100 UN monitors went to the Dominican Republic-Haiti border in mid-August to stop oil smuggling, which was sustaining the Haitian military.

In response, Émile Jonassaint, declared a state of siege and accused the world of having "declared war on poor Haiti, which has harmed nobody." Throughout August the army and its paramilitary ally, the 'Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti', continued to murder Aristide supporters while organizing parades of "volunteers" to fight an invasion.

On September 18, 1994 a U.S. peace mission comprising former president Jimmy Carter, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell, and Sen. Sam Nunn successfully negotiated a compromise that averted an outright invasion to remove Jonassaint's regime. On October 24, 1995, Jonassaint died at the age of 82.