21783: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-U.N. should disarm rebels, Latortue says (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, May. 09, 2004


HAITI


U.N. should disarm rebels, Latortue says

Haiti's new interim prime minister said at a Herald forum that he wants
seasoned troops deployed when the United Nations takes over peacekeeping.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

jcharles@herald.com


Interim Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, saying his country needs
more than traditional military peacekeepers, called on the United Nations on
Saturday to send in a multinational force with the experience and mandate to
disarm combatants.

Latortue plans to deliver the request in person to United Nations Secretary
General Kofi Annan when the two meet in New York on Monday to discuss the
United Nation's plans for replacing U.S. forces in Haiti.

SPECIAL NEEDS

''This case in Haiti is not the traditional case of maintaining peace,''
Latortue said Saturday during a live radio appearance at a Herald-sponsored
forum on Haiti's future.

``We need some military forces and we need also people, police forces . . .
with investigations skills like the FBI to be able to investigate cases like
the numerous cases of kidnappings we have in Haiti. We do not have now, even
with the American forces . . . people who have the skills of conducting
investigations.''

The United States has led a stabilization force in Haiti of about 2,000 U.S.
Marines, and 1,500 other troops from Canada, Chile and France since
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned Feb. 20 during a violent revolt.

Earlier this month, the U.N. Security Council approved the deployment of up
to 6,700 military peacekeepers and 1,622 police officers for a ''blue
helmet'' peacekeeping force in Haiti by June 1. It is the second time in a
decade that the U.N. has agreed to send troops to the volatile Caribbean
country.

Disarmament was among the myriad issues Latortue touched on Saturday during
the hour-long discussion, which aired live on WLRN-FM (91.3). It also
featured state Rep. Phillip Brutus, D-North Miami, North Miami Councilman
Jacques Despinosse and community activist Leonie Hermantin.

CLOSE QUESTIONING

The panelists, all Haitian Americans, quizzed Latortue about his interim
government's plans for stabilizing Haiti, reaching out to Haitians outside
Haiti and moving the country toward fair and credible elections, planned for
2005. The discussion was moderated by Herald foreign affairs columnist
Andres Oppenheimer.

''Haiti is in our heart,'' Hermantin said, reflecting sentiments of Haitians
regardless of how they feel about Aristide's departure.

But Haitians, she said, are concerned about the country's lingering
problems: insecurity, an ill-trained police force, a $100 million budget
deficit, the lack of electricity and basic commodities.

''We cannot do it overnight,'' Latortue said, alluding to his government's
mandate to get the country on track.

The former South Florida resident and retired economist spent several days
in Washington, where he met with President Bush and other top U.S. officials
in hopes of getting millions of dollars in aid for the bankrupt country.
Latortue, who will travel to Europe before returning to Haiti on May 14,
received a commitment for $40 million in emergency aid, State Department
officials confirmed to the Herald Friday.

In the two months since his appointment by a U.S.-backed council, Latortue's
hasn't had an easy time. The Caribbean Community has refused to recognize
him, citing statements he has made about breaking relations with the
15-member regional bloc following Jamaica's decision to host Aristide, and a
controversial visit to his hometown of Gonaives where he embraced rebel
leaders as ``freedom fighters.''

On Saturday he denied that he called the rebels ''freedom fighters'' but
stood by his opinion that they had ``fought to free Haiti from the
dictatorship of Aristide.''

Latortue also stood by his commitment to make the election in 2005 credible
and fair, saying he will ask the global community to help by witnessing the
ballot-counting.

``My own personal experience is that many Haitians, whenever they organize
election, even elections to be president of a football club, they always try
to manipulate it. I don't want to take that chance. I really would like the
next election to be the true expression of the will of the Haitian people.''

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