22187: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Mammoth Mission (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PAISLEY DODDS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 31 (AP) -- U.N. troops are coming back to Haiti, but
after a decade of failed missions many in the traumatized nation wonder
whether the peacekeepers -- cobbled together from countries ranging from
Argentina to Zimbabwe -- are up to the daunting task.
   Although the official handover is Tuesday, only 42 of some 8,000 troops
and police have arrived.
   Brightly colored flags of 30 participating nations dot empty barracks at
the airport. Only samples of the blue U.N. headgear have arrived.
   Floods that killed nearly 1,700 people last week and stranded thousands
in remote villages have forced U.S. troops to stay past their June 1
departure date. American and French forces in the four-nation force handing
the baton to the United Nations are the only ones with helicopters to bring
aid to otherwise unreachable villages.
   Unless they get new marching orders, the 1,900 U.S. troops will leave at
the end of June, many to return to combat in Iraq.
   Some Canadian, Chilean and French troops, from the 3,600-force that
arrived in February when a rebellion ousted President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, will join the U.N. force for up to six months.
   "We've done an excellent job in working with the multinational task
force and we look forward to working with the other nations," said Canadian
Capt. David Devenney.
   The U.N. force, to include 6,700 troops and 1,622 civilian police, will
be led by 1,200 Brazilian troops, the largest contingent the South American
country has sent on a U.N. mission.other 150 troops.
   But Brazilian Army Gen. Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira recently warned
Haitians not to expect miracles. Heleno, the commander of the U.N. force,
arrived Tuesday. He is expected to be joined by 150 more troops on Tuesday
for the symbolic handover.
   "Our first priority is helping the Haitian people," Heleno said Monday,
donning a blue cap. "It will not be an easy mission but we are prepared to
do the work it takes."
   The U.N. mission will again try to keep a tentative peace in the divided
country and again train an ill-equipped and understaffed police force, as
well as work on development projects.
   U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked for a long-term U.N.
commitment to transform Haiti -- which has suffered more than 30 coups in
200 years -- into "a functioning democracy." But only a fraction of the $35
million in requested aid has arrived.
   Although Annan has urged nations to commit to Haiti, the mission is only
for six-months now with no guarantees it will be extended.
   "You can't just fix the problem and run," said Adama Guindo, a U.N.
representative who will head the six-month mission to Haiti until a
permanent leader is appointed. "I tend to believe that this time we are
going to make a difference."
   Whether the force will reach full strength is unclear. Brazil, Chile and
Argentina have pledged up to 2,500 troops. Other countries, from
strife-torn nations such as Nepal and Rwanda, have weighed in with sizable
contributions of 750 troops each.
   "I don't understand what they're coming to do yet," said Marie Andre,
31, from the southern village of Fond Verrettes, one of the worst affected
towns in the floods. "If they're supposed to provide security, where are
they?"
   Some Haitians are hopeful that without Aristide the United Nations will
be able to do more.
   U.S. troops last intervened in Haiti in 1994 to restore Aristide after a
1991 coup. In 1995, they handed over to U.N. peacekeepers. That mission was
supposed to last a year but continued until February 2001, unfolding as the
Haitian government held disputed parliamentary and presidential elections
which ultimately soured relations with the international community.
   Foreign governments demanded a re-count of flawed 2000 legislative
elections swept by Aristide's party. When Aristide refused, they froze tens
of millions of aid dollars.
   The United States, Haiti's largest bilateral donor since 1994, held up
its $14 million share of the last mission's $24 million budget, preventing
U.N. advisers from deploying until months after the mission began.
   The mission was dealt another blow when its transport chief was dragged
from his car by a mob and shot and killed. Annan closed the mission, citing
a "combination of rampant crime, violent street protests and incidents of
violence targeted at the international community."
   Haitian leaders blamed the troops, saying neither the Americans nor U.N.
peacekeepers had done enough to disarm factions, particularly the
coup-prone army that Aristide disbanded in 1995.
   Ex-soldiers are among leaders of several rebel factions that joined
forces this year to oust Aristide again. Still armed, some boast that they
carry the guns that never were taken from them nearly 10 years ago.
   There was no difference this time round. The Americans did little about
disarmament.
   "Our first mission here is providing security," Lt. Col. Antonio Carlos
Faillace said when the first Brazilian troops arrived Saturday.
   But he too was ambivalent about disarmament, saying that would be
decided by Gen. Heleno.