22213: (Chamberlain) Haiti-UN Mission (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PAISLEY DODDS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, June 2 (AP) -- U.N. peacekeepers have established their
command post in Haiti, preparing to take over from an American-led force
later this month despite uncertainty over troop numbers, funding and how to
help thousands of flood victims.
   In a ceremony Tuesday, Brazil's Army Gen. Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira
took control of the 8,000-strong U.N. force at Haiti's police academy.
Although only a fraction of troops have arrived, most are expected to come
by the end of June, when U.S. troops leave and U.N. troops start performing
the duties of the current 3,600-member multinational task force.
   Their initial mission will be to provide security, which includes
disarming rebels who helped oust President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Feb.
29, as well as pro-Aristide militants. Both sides have said they will
disarm if the other side does the same, but the U.S.-led troops have
collected fewer than 200 weapons so far.
   "Disarmament is very important, but what is also important is the
disarmament of the spirit and the desire to rebuild," said Heleno as about
80 troops, including Brazilians, Chilean, Canadian and Nepalese, replaced
their camouflage caps with blue U.N. berets.
   Less than a dozen of the 1,900 U.S. troops will stay on with the U.N.
force. Others in the multinational force it is replacing will have
staggered departure dates. France will leave later this month, Canada will
stay on until September and Chile will participate until the U.N. mandate
expires.
   "The U.N. has a big job ahead of it, but they're coming in with double
the force and will be here for twice as much time," U.S. Ambassador James
Foley told The Associated Press.
   "The operation will deal with security, but it will also help the
government spread its authority, which is not the case now," Foley said,
noting "Rebels are still in control of a pretty significant chunk of real
estate."
   The symbolic handover comes as the country of 8 million copes with
deadly floods that killed more than 1,700 in Haiti and the Dominican
Republic. It was unclear whether the newly arrived troops would be involved
in emergency operations to flooded areas.
   The United Nations says eventually there will be 6,700 troops and 1,622
civilian police from more than two dozen countries led by 1,200 Brazilian
troops.
   Whether the force will reach full strength is unclear. Brazil, Chile and
Argentina have pledged up to 2,500 troops. Other countries, including Nepal
and Rwanda, have promised 750 troops each.
   Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue said he would try to persuade the
Americans to extend their June departure, saying only U.S. troops have a
"dissuasive effect" on the population.
   Several members of Aristide's government and inner circle have been
arrested on drug trafficking charges, including former Sen. Fourel
Celestin, who surrended on Tuesday at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince.
He was quickly flown to Miami, where he will likely be arraigned, according
to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
   Barring more help from U.S. troops, Latortue said he hoped the U.N.
force would stay until Feb. 7, 2006, when an elected president should be
installed.
   He also asked the international community to tackle the root of Haiti's
instability, which he said was grinding poverty.
   "What we need here is a U.N. mission that will not limit itself to
maintaining the peace," Latortue told reporters after the ceremony. "They
will have to get involved in the development process."
   After a decade of failed missions, many in the traumatized nation wonder
whether the peacekeepers can succeed.
   This U.N. mission will again try to keep a tentative peace and again
train an ill-equipped and understaffed police force.
   U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked member nations to make a
long-term 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 he requested has arrived and the mission's mandate
remains six months.
   Some Haitians are skeptical. "I don't understand what they're coming to
do yet," said Marie Andre, 31, from the flood-hit southern village of Fond
Verrettes.
   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 2000 legislative elections that ultimately
soured relations with the international community and led to the freezing
of hundreds of millions of aid dollars.
   The mission was dealt another blow when its transport chief was dragged
from his car by a mob and shot and killed in 2000. Annan closed that
mission, citing a "combination of rampant crime, violent street protests
and incidents of violence targeted at the international community."