20688: Esser: Haiti: Security Vacuum in the North (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
http://hrw.org/english

Haiti: Security Vacuum in the North

Numerous Journalists and Government Officials in Hiding

(Port-au-Prince, March 22, 2004) — French military forces must work
with the Haitian National Police to quickly retake control of the
Haiti’s northern region, Human Rights Watch said today. A large
number of journalists and government officials from the region have
gone into hiding out of fear for their safety.
Two Human Rights Watch representatives just returned from an
assessment mission to the north of Haiti, during which they
interviewed several journalists and government officials who
described their lack of security. One former official, parliamentary
deputy Gabriel Ducatel of Port-Margot, was being illegally detained
in Cap Haïtien by the so-called Armed Forces of the North (Forces
armées du Nord).  
 
“It’s been three weeks since the Multinational Interim Force arrived
in Haiti, but the rule of law has yet to be reestablished in the
north,” said Joanne Mariner, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s
Americas Division. “The French military forces based in Cap Haïtien,
together with the Haitian police, need to extend their reach beyond
the city and assert effective control over the rest of the region.”  
 
French military forces arrived in Cap Haïtien last week and now
number a few hundred. Although they are regularly patrolling the city
of Cap Haïtien, they have not yet brought security to neighboring
towns and rural areas. Nor have they stopped insurgent forces in Cap
Haïtien from carrying arms and holding prisoners.  
 
The Haitian National Police based in the north are still in disarray.
Human Rights Watch representatives interviewed Renan Etienne, the
newly appointed police commissioner for the northern department
(Directeur départementale de la Police Nationale d’Haïti), and
learned that he was beginning his tenure with a corps of fewer than
50 police. He said that in normal times his department had a few
hundred police.  
 
The lack of a police presence is evident all over the north of Haiti.
In Trou du Nord, a town located between Cap Haïtien and the Dominican
border, an armed group that calls itself the Kosovo Army (Armée
Kosovo) is acting as the de facto security force. When the two Human
Rights Watch representatives visited the area on March 19, they found
Sinais Ambroise, one of the town’s deputy mayors (troisième
magistrat), in illegal detention there.  
 
The Kosovo Army consists of approximately 35 mostly young men from
the town of Trou du Nord, assisted by about 14 former members of the
Haitian military. The group claimed a loose cooperative relationship
with the Armed Forces of the North, the rebel force led by Guy
Philippe, but said that they weren’t directly under Philippe’s
command.  
 
In Cap Haïtien, the rebel forces had 16 prisoners in their custody as
of Saturday. Among the prisoners that Human Rights Watch saw that day
were former deputy Gabriel Ducatel, of the ESCAMP party, who
represented the Borgne and Port-Margot district, and Augustin Joseph,
an employee of the radio station Peasant Voice of Milo (Radio voix
paysanne Milot).  
 
The Human Rights Watch representatives also heard credible
testimonies describing situations of great insecurity in the northern
towns of Fort Liberté and St. Rafael.  
 
Human Rights Watch also interviewed a number of radio journalists in
Cap Haïtien, including journalists with Radio Nationale, who had gone
into hiding. They described the lack of security and their resulting
fears for their safety. These journalists gave Human Rights Watch the
names of another dozen journalists who were said to be in hiding too.
  
The vast majority of political representatives from the Lavalas party
are also in hiding: nearly all of the local mayors, CASEKs (a local
post), and municipal officials linked to the party of former
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.  
 
“The new Haitian government should demand that the insurgent forces
respect the rights of people associated with the former government,”
said Mariner. “Journalists associated with all political tendencies
must be allowed to work freely, without fear of attack.”
.