16048: (Craig) Article: Judge Takes Job of Haiti's Police Chief (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <hoosier@att.net>


Judge Takes Job of Haiti's Police Chief
June 28, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 11:13 p.m. ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- A week after her predecessor
resigned and fled to the United States, a judge took on the
job Saturday of running Haiti's much-criticized police
force.

President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appointed Jocelyne Pierre,
head of Port-au-Prince's civil court, to be Haiti's interim
police chief. She took the oath of office Saturday at the
police headquarters in the capital.

Pierre is the third acting police chief in the past month,
and the first woman to hold the post since the police force
replaced the demobilized army in June 1995.

Her predecessor, Jean-Robert Faveur, resigned after two
weeks in office and fled with his family to Miami, saying
he feared for his life.

In an open letter to Aristide on June 22, Faveur said the
government had been undermining his position. He said at a
news conference in Washington Friday that Aristide was
filling police ranks with people loyal to him regardless of
their qualifications.

The government denied the charges, saying Faveur had
"abandoned his post" and should be extradited and
arrested.

Aristide has been under intense pressure to reform the
police force, which has been accused of criminal activity,
human rights abuses and repression of political dissent.

The president's foes accuse the 4,000-member force of
helping armed bands of Aristide supporters break up
opposition protests, allegations supported by the U.S.
State Department.

"I will put all my knowledge and experience to work, like
all the other women who have served the nation," Pierre
said at the swearing-in ceremony.

Haiti's opposition parties said Faveur's flight indicated
secure elections would be impossible under Aristide and
questioned Pierre's competence for police work.

Pierre's "appointment is not conducive to establishing a
secure environment for the electoral process," opposition
politician Mischa Gaillard said. The entire force must be
reformed, he said.

Before Faveur, the force was headed by Aristide supporter
Jean-Claude Baptiste, who resigned under international
pressure after less than three months.

Baptiste had been accused in the killing of politician
Sylvio Claude on the eve of a 1991 army coup that ousted
Aristide and sent him into exile. Baptiste has denied
involvement in the killing.

The opposition and Aristide have been at loggerheads since
May 2000 legislative elections, which the opposition says
were rigged and international observers deemed flawed.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Haiti-Police-Chief.html?ex=1057922012&ei=1&en=72b0d2d7eba90878
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

A similar article in both English and French with photograph at
http://www.haiti-info.com/