22214: (Chamberlain) Let's get Haiti right, Annan tells UN troops (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, June 1 (Reuters) - U.N. troops took over
peacekeeping authority in Haiti on Tuesday as aid workers in the Caribbean
nation struggled with the loss of military helicopters that had delivered
supplies to victims of deadly flooding.
     U.S. forces formally handed over authority to U.N. troops in a
ceremony at the national police academy in the Port-au-Prince suburb of
Petionville, beginning a transition expected to be complete by June 20.
     Many of the U.N. troops have yet to arrive.
     "The stakes are high. This time, let us get it right," U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message read at the ceremony.
     A U.S.-led multinational force went to Haiti to restore order in March
after an armed revolt killed more than 200 people and forced President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile.
     It also provided helicopters to deliver food to remote villages
flooded last week in the worst natural disaster to hit the impoverished
country in years.
     The United Nations last sent peacekeepers to Haiti in 1995, running a
2 1/2-year stabilization mission after U.S. forces restored Aristide to
power following a military coup.
     Brazil leads the current six-month U.N. mission, providing the core of
the 6,700 troops and 1,622 police whose chief goal is to stabilize Haiti
ahead of elections expected next year.
     "We have to take advantage of their presence to restore security and
to bring stability and to create conditions for good elections," Haiti's
interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue said at the ceremony.
     The Brazilian general in charge of the U.N. forces, Augusto Heleno
Ribeiro Pereira, said disarming Haiti's politically connected gangs would
be an important step toward that goal.
     "The disarmament is very important for the security of everybody.
However, spiritual disarmament is even more important than physical
disarmament," he said,
     During the ceremony, a Canadian soldier saluted the Brazilian general
and took off his own cap and replaced it with the blue beret of the U.N.
peacekeepers. Other foreign soldiers followed suit.
     Aid groups have relied on the interim force's helicopters to deliver
emergency food, water and medicine to remote villages cut off when roads
were washed away by the floods.
     Heavy rains created torrents of mud and debris that swept away homes
and buried residents in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the
island of Hispaniola.
     Haitian and U.N. officials estimated 2,600 people were dead or missing
in Haiti. In the Dominican Republic, officials said some 400 people had
been killed and 300 were missing, almost all in the town of Jimani near the
Haitian border.
     The military helicopters delivered more than 125 tonnes of supplies to
ravaged areas, but the flights ended on Sunday. Supplies appeared
sufficient in the worst-hit areas, said U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, a
spokesman for the interim force.
     "If in the future there is an immediate need like the one last week,
we will use our helicopters, but not on a routine basis," Lapan said.
     Aid workers said the loss of that lifeline left them unable to ship
aid to stricken areas. The U.N. World Food Program is now considering
chartering helicopters, at $300,000 a week.
     "We have to determine whether we are going to use this money to
charter helicopters or to buy more food, more supplies to help the people,"
said Guy Gauvreau, the WFP director in Haiti. "We deeply deplore that the
multinational force has other priorities ... "
     The 1,900 U.S. troops are expected to complete their withdrawal by
July.