21377: Esser: Haiti after Aristide: The danger of a revived army (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

The International Herald Tribune
http://www.iht.com

April 17, 2004

Haiti after Aristide: The danger of a revived army
by Andrew Reding

Haiti after Aristide
 
NEW YORK A key justification for U.S. intervention in Haiti has been
to build respect for the rule of law in a country destabilized by
extreme partisanship and by recourse to violence rather than dialogue
to settle differences. That aim, however, is being imperiled by
uneven enforcement of criminal law, and by signs pointing to a
possible restoration of the country's murderous army.

During his visit on April 5 to Port-au-Prince, Secretary of State
Colin Powell said the United States is considering a possible
criminal indictment of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A day
later, former Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert was placed under
Marine guard at the National Penitentiary after he was arrested on
charges of conspiring to assassinate opponents in February, during
the uprising that ousted Aristide.

But Secretary Powell said nothing about bringing to justice the
criminals and human rights violators among those who overthrew
Aristide - men he referred to as “thugs” just two months ago.
Instead, he merely counseled the caretaker prime minister, Gérard
Latortue, not to reward such individuals with government posts.

In a March 20 visit to Gonaďves, Latortue praised the rebels as
“freedom fighters.” He stood beside Jean-Pierre Baptiste (alias Jean
Tatoune), freed in a jail break while serving a life sentence for his
role in a 1994 massacre of unarmed civilians in that city. Also on
stage was Louis-Jodel Chamblain, convicted in absentia of taking part
in the same massacre, and accused of participating in the
assassinations of Justice Minister Guy Mallary and a businessman,
Antoine Izméry, in the early 1990s.

Such crimes are not limited to the 90s. In February, two Dominican
border guards were killed as heavily armed rebels led by Chamblain
and Guy Philippe infiltrated into Haiti. When the Dominican
government detained a rebel leader in connection with the killings,
rebels kidnapped 13 Dominican visitors. Threatening to kill the
hostages, they forced the Dominican government to trade the rebel
leader in mid-March.

The United States is now responsible for law and order in Haiti. Yet
despite the presence of almost 2,000 U.S. troops, no effort has been
made to bring those responsible for these crimes to justice.

Another disturbing sign is Latortue's appointment of a former
military officer, Lieutenant General Hérard Abraham, as interior
minister. Abraham, who promptly called for restoration of the Haitian
armed forces, publicly embraced the coup leader, Guy Philippe,
another former army officer.

During the four years of military rule after the first overthrow of
Aristide in 1991, the Haitian Army slaughtered several thousand
unarmed civilians. Though Abraham was not personally involved in
those events, they have permanently sullied the army's reputation
among most Haitians.

Haiti's army has not defended the country from a foreign threat in
more than two centuries. Its only role has been to maintain domestic
order. That, however, should be the job of police officers trained to
respect rights of citizens, not soldiers trained to subdue “enemies.”

Furthermore, the military has historically been allied with the
country's lighter-skinned elite, which has repeatedly prevailed on it
to overthrow governments led by black populists, such as that of
Dumarsais Estimé in 1950, and Aristide in 1991. That is why such a
large segment of the nominally “nonviolent” opposition to Aristide is
clamoring for its return.

It is also why Aristide abolished the army in 1995. He replaced it
with the Haitian National Police, which got off to a good start with
help from the United Nations, but later became politicized as the
international community turned its back on Haiti. The challenge is to
rebuild the national police as a professional, apolitical force.

General James Hill, commander of U.S. forces in Haiti, recently said:
“There is no need for a Haitian Army. I was here when President
Aristide disbanded it, and that was the correct thing to do at the
time.” Hill's civilian bosses should heed his sound advice rather
than that of the Haitian elite.

The Bush administration should also issue immediate orders to detain
former soldiers, officers, and paramilitaries charged with, or
convicted of, taking part in political assassinations and massacres.
As it turns out, many were deported from the United States to Haiti
to face justice, but were either released or escaped from prison
during the revolt against Aristide.

Without even-handed justice and security policies in Haiti, trust and
stability will remain sadly out of reach.

Andrew Reding is senior fellow for hemispheric affairs at the World
Policy Institute.

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