21668: (Hermantin)Sun-Sentinel-Rebels, gang members still outgun government in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Rebels, gang members still outgun government in Haiti



By Sandra Hernandez

May 3, 2004

Port-au-Prince, HAITI · When a small cadre of armed rebels walked through
the lobby of Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue's office during the
visit of a South Florida congressmen last month, their appearance was
carefully planned to deliver a message: Disarmament in Haiti is not a done
deal.

"We want to turn in our arms, but it seems the government doesn't have a
plan," said Guy Philippe, the charismatic rebel leader, during a recent
interview on the outskirts of the capital. "We control much of the country.
If the government really wants stability, it needs to talk to us. And until
now they really haven't done that."

Philippe, who led the anti-government rebellion that helped drive President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide from office Feb. 29, promised to lay down his arms
less than a month ago. But these days he says it requires careful
negotiations.

Philippe's message underscores the challenges facing Haiti's interim
government as it moves to disarm rebels and gang members who still control
vast regions and impose their own form of law and order in this Caribbean
nation of 8 million.

"This is an interim government without guns. And it's dealing with people
who have guns," said a senior Western diplomat, who asked not to be
identified. The diplomat noted that Haiti lacks a national army and that its
small police force is outgunned by rebels and gangs, and said: "That is the
fundamental problem facing this government."

Disarmament efforts face serious hurdles. Among them: rebuilding a ragtag
police force into one capable of restoring law and order; contending with
rebel demands for a greater role in law enforcement; and getting the
countless weapons -- from antique revolvers to high-powered firearms -- off
the streets.

"The priority here is the struggle against security," Latortue told a
gathering of Haiti's various political parties late last month. "We have
armed groups with heavy weapons, and we have a police that are simply armed
with handguns. We don't have a well-trained police who can not confront
well-armed gangs, and they run."

Law and order

Key to any disarmament plan is getting rebels to turn in the weapons they
used to lead the uprising. While the number of rebels is unclear -- Philippe
and others say their forces number between 2,500 and 5,000 -- their
influence in many regions is obvious.

Despite the presence of more than 3,000 international troops, dispatched to
ensure public safety and support the interim government, rebel leaders still
hold sway over key areas.

In the port city of Gonaïves, where the uprising began, the city's police
station and jail were reduced to piles of rubble, except for two walls on
which someone has spray-painted "For sale." There, rebels including
Ferdinand Wilfort remain the unofficial arbiters of law and order, even
though French troops are stationed just a few miles from Wilfort's home in
the seaside slum of Raboteau.

"Things are calm here now since we took over," Wilfort said in a recent
interview. "We are willing to turn over our weapons. We already made a
symbolic gesture and turned over 13 or 14 to the prime minister. But we told
him that isn't everything we have."

For Wilfort, disarmament requires government actions, including promises to
assimilate rebels into Haiti's police force and to disarm pro-Aristide gangs
known as chimères.

"If these weapons remain out there, the [chimères] could come after us. They
could fight us or the government," he said.

But transforming Haiti's streets into a gun-free zone is virtually
impossible despite much-publicized efforts involving Haiti's National
Police. As the rebels advanced across Haiti, many police officers fled their
posts in February, fearing attacks. About 1,500 have since returned to their
posts, but they remain a timid presence with little influence or firepower.

During a recent patrol in the Delmas 33 neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, two
police officers dressed in crisp blue-and-tan uniforms and armed with
handguns reluctantly walked along the winding streets accompanied by a group
of U.S. Marines.

"We are confident, and we want to get back out there," said Bernard Cledy, a
nine-year veteran of Haiti's police. "We are doing the best we can."

But Cledy was visibly uncomfortable as he left the main street to patrol a
smaller unpaved road. He rarely spoke to residents, except to ask for
directions back to the police station.

Overwhelming task

Police acknowledge they are ill-equipped to strip the streets of guns.

"Given the current situation, we really need about 20,000 police," said Jean
Yonel Trecile, an inspector general with the national police.

About 3,600 police are stationed across the country, mostly in the capital,
according to Trecile. Until now, most efforts to collect illegal guns were
done by some of the 3,600 international troops stationed in Haiti. These
include about 2,000 U.S. Marines, along with French, Canadian and Chilean
soldiers.

Even routine checkpoints and raids have turned up fewer than 100 illegal
guns, and many armed gangs and rebels remain in slums and shantytowns where
labyrinths of crowded streets offer easy escape from soldiers.

Under Haiti's constitution, residents are allowed to have guns if they
receive government permits, but many permits have expired since the collapse
of the Aristide government.

For Trecile, disarmament is an overwhelming task.

"When [the interim government] took over, we didn't have any weapons. Now we
have to order new weapons," he said. "It is hard to ask a police officer who
only has a sidearm to disarm someone with a high-caliber weapon."

Efforts are under way to boost the numbers of Haitian police through a
recruitment drive launched last month. But the process of selecting recruits
for these highly coveted jobs in a country where most people earn less than
$1 a day is also stirring talks between the government and rebels.

Philippe insists his rebels should be hired for those jobs. "I need
guarantees for the men who saved this country. ... We need to legalize the
ones who can be reintegrated into civilian life and the police," he said.
"They have promised to integrate the men into the police, but until now we
haven't seen anything.".

Many rebels, including Philippe, face serious criminal charges, including
drug trafficking and murder.

Notorious army

Government officials appear to be moving toward assimilating some rebels
into the police force, but they are being careful not to appear to be going
against U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who warned Haitian leaders not
to embrace rebels with criminal backgrounds.

"We want the disarmament of all armed groups, so our approach is to allow
the former military [soldiers] who have no violent history or [who do not]
face criminal charges to be allowed to integrate into the National Police,"
Latortue said in an interview in Port-au-Prince. "We will try and give them
jobs in security."

Latortue said his ministers recently met with rebel leaders in cities around
the country, including Hinche in the Central Plateau.

That might not be enough for some high-ranking rebel leaders, including
Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a former Haitian soldier who was convicted of murder
in connection with the 1994 slaying of residents of a Gonaïves slum. He fled
Haiti to the Dominican Republic after being convicted in absentia. In
February, he returned with Philippe to help lead the uprising.

Late last month he surrendered to police, declaring his innocence.

Chamblain insists more must be done for Haiti and the men who "liberated"
the country, including reconstituting Haiti's notorious army. The military
was disarmed by Aristide in 1995 amid charges of human rights abuses,
including murders.

"We are negotiating to integrate [the rebels] into the National Police as
special forces to help the police," Chamblain said, just two days before
going to jail. "But this country also needs an army."

Senior U.S. State Department officials insist such plans are unlikely to be
accepted by the international community and could jeopardize international
aid. Moreover, such suggestions are likely to cast doubts on the sincerity
of the government's efforts to be fair in its efforts to disarm rebels as
well as Aristide supporters.

Many pro-Aristide groups insist the interim government is focused simply on
working with rebels.

"When they talk about disarming, they really only mean one side," said
Médis, a member of Aristide's Lavalas Family Party, who declined to give his
full name because he is in hiding. "The opposition has guns. We don't, but
they say we do. If I had a gun, would I have left my house and gone into
hiding? I haven't seen my wife and children in weeks because I'm afraid for
them and my own life."

Médis said dozens of his friends are also in hiding, moving often to avoid
anti-Aristide gangs who he said killed two friends, leaving their
decapitated corpses in empty lots near their homes.

But rebel leaders insist they will put down their arms under the right
conditions.

"We have no problems with Aristide supporters because they are also victims
of Haiti's misery," Philippe said. "You have to talk this out because not
everything can be done with a gun."

Sandra Hernandez can be reached at smhernandez@sun-sentinel.com or
954-356-4514.
Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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