18924: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Police on the Run (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 20 (AP) -- Haiti's poorly trained and equipped
police -- accused of crimes ranging from brutalizing suspects to
trafficking in drugs -- is putting up little resistance as rebels move
against the government.
   Rebels trying to oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide launched a bloody
uprising two weeks ago, marking the police as prime targets. Of the more
than 60 people to die so far, about 40 have been police. Meanwhile, many
have fled to neighboring Dominican Republic and Jamaica.
   "We do not know who we are protecting," said Cpl. Louis Larieux, 40, a
rookie policeman in the capital, Port-au-Prince. "Things are bad. We don't
have the reinforcements."
   Although they look menacing in their black knee pads, helmets and bullet
proof vests, the fear is visible on their faces when dealing with rioters.
   Confronted by rebels including ex-soldiers from Haiti's disbanded army,
their inclination has been to run.
   Paid the equivalent of $125 a month, they number fewer than 4,000. But
it's not known exactly how many remain on the job because droves have
abandoned police stations in more than a dozen towns.
   Last week, about a dozen rebels drove 50 officers out of Hinche in the
central Artibonite district, where about 1 million of Haiti's 8 million
people live. This week, police began deserting outlying posts without a
guerrilla in sight.
   Aristide has conceded that the police may not be able to halt the
rebellion. He told officers at a ceremony that he was ready to die to
defend Haiti, and asked them to be courageous. But stony-faced officers did
not respond.
   In Cap-Haitien, the last major government bastion in the north, police
officers stripped off their uniforms in the street when word spread this
week that a boat approaching the harbor was filled with rebels.
   The day after that false alarm, some two dozen officers barricaded
themselves into their station, leaving the streets to armed Aristide thugs
who terrorized the populace.
   One officer admitted they did not have the men or arms to repel a rebel
attack and admitted they were frightened: "Of course we are," he said.
"It's a natural reaction after what happened."
   Aristide asked U.S. and Caribbean officials this week for help to
"professionalize" the police force.
   But U.S. officials say it was Aristide who politicized the force they
helped train: Civilians loyal to Aristide were appointed over professional
commanders. Commissioners known to be trafficking in drugs were never
punished. Officers have been encouraged to attack anti-government
protesters. or stand by while Aristide militants attack them.
   In August, the National Coalition for Haitian Rights said the government
had created special brigades of auxiliaries who rob, rape and murder,
creating a climate of fear reminiscent of dark days under military
dictatorship.
   The government denied the report's findings, calling it a "partisan"
account.
   It also has defended itself against Amnesty International's charges that
police commit summary executions, make arbitrary arrests and brutalize
arrested people.
   A police corporal in Port-au-Prince said on condition that he not be
named that he was not risking his life: "The government wants us to protect
Aristide, but they don't tell us why we should. We put our lives in danger,
and for what? This killing is senseless."