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Fri Apr 5,12:30 PM ET

By MICHAEL NORTON, Associated Press Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - A three-man team from the Organization of American States is expected in Haiti next week to investigate a December attack on the National Palace that has deepened a lingering political crisis, an OAS official said Friday.

The team includes Nicolas Liverpool, from Dominica; Roberto Flores Bermudez, from Honduras; and Alonso Gomez Robledo Verduzco, from Mexico.

The jurists will examine all aspects of the December violence and make recommendations to the Haitian authorities based on its findings. Its stay in Haiti is open-ended, said OAS representative in Haiti Sergio Romero.

The government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Convergence opposition alliance welcomed the team's arrival.

At loggerheads with Aristide since his governing Lavalas Family party swept May 2000 elections, Convergence has refused to resume talks with the government until some 20 of its imprisoned partisans are released, the perpetrators of December attacks on its offices brought to justice, and a peaceful climate has been established.

On Dec. 17, gunmen attacked the National Palace in what Aristide has called an assassination attempt even though he was sleeping at his home in a suburb of Port-au-Prince. The opposition alleges the attack was staged as a pretext to clamp down on dissent.

At least 10 were killed in the attack and subsequent violence, when rampaging Aristide partisans burned opposition headquarters and private residences of its leaders. Journalists were threatened, raising doubts about Aristide's commitment to free speech.

The attack deepened a two-year political crisis.

OAS election observers found the first-round election of seven senators in 2000 should have gone on to a runoff. The opposition alleged the races were rigged and has refused to recognize Aristide's legitimacy.

While poverty and political instability in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country have increased, the international community has blocked hundreds of millions of foreign aid dollars until a consensus is reached on new elections.