16007: Benodin: Haiti's police chief chooses self-exile (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

Haiti's police chief chooses self-exile
BY MICHAEL NORTON
Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Two weeks after he became Haiti's acting police chief,
Jean-Robert Faveur resigned and went into self-imposed exile because of
alleged government interference and threats to his life, according to news
reports Sunday.
Faveur sent a letter announcing his resignation to various media outlets,
including independent Radio Caraibes, which read it over the air.
''Today I have chosen the path of exile rather than to allow myself to
become corrupt and subservient,'' said the letter, which was dated June 21.
The letter, addressed to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, bore the official
seal of the police, Radio Caraibes reported. The Associated Press also has
obtained a copy.
Government officials were not available for comment.
Faveur said in the letter that officials in Aristide's government wanted him
to endorse promotions and transfers of police officers without his consent.
In addition, they didn't allow him to sign official checks, the letter said.
Days after his appointment, a major reshuffling of senior police officials
took place without Faveur's approval, the letter said.
''I was warned that my life and that of my family were in danger,'' he said,
without providing details.
Faveur left the Western Hemisphere's poorest country of his own will, but
the letter did not say when he left or where he was going.
He was sworn in June 6 to replace Jean-Claude Jean-Baptiste, who resigned
June 3 after just 2 ½ months on the job.
Aristide has been under intense pressure to reform the 4,000-member police
force, which has been accused of crime, human-rights abuses and repression
of political dissent. Both the opposition and civil groups have demanded
police reform, as well as other security-establishing measures, before they
participate on a nine-member election board overseeing legislative
elections. Aristide's government and the opposition have yet to agree on a
date for the vote.
The Organization of American States passed two resolutions last year urging
new public security, including disarming of partisans and reforming the
police. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the OAS General Assembly
on June 10 that the United States was ''encouraged'' by the appointment of
Faveur, whom he termed ``eminently qualified professionally.''
The appointment of Jean-Baptiste, a longtime Aristide partisan, had been
criticized and was never brought before the Senate for confirmation.
Jean-Baptiste also had been accused of involvement in the 1991 killing of
politician Sylvio Claude on the eve of an army coup that ousted Aristide and
sent him into exile, charges which he denies.
Aristide chose Faveur in consultation with the OAS.