22497: (Chamberlain) Brazil takes over Haiti UN force, and a tough task (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, June 25 (Reuters) - A United Nations force led
by Brazil took over command from the United States on Friday of
peacekeeping in Haiti four months after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
was ousted by an armed revolt.
     Canadian and Chilean troops swapped camouflage hats and helmets for
U.N. blue berets and a bagpipe wailed at a handover ceremony in the
capital, Port-au-Prince. U.S. Marine Corp. Brig. Gen. Ronald Coleman
declared: "Our mission is complete."
     While many Haitians look forward to tense U.S. Marines being replaced
by Brazilians who share a passion for soccer, rights groups and Haiti
experts said the challenges are enormous.
     The 3,700-strong U.S.-led force, which included Canadian, Chilean and
French troops, had a limited mission to halt open warfare in the
impoverished former French colony 700 miles (1,100 km) from U.S. shores.
     U.S. President George W. Bush sent in U.S. Marines on Feb. 29 after a
monthlong revolt by armed gangs and ex-soldiers forced Aristide, a former
Roman Catholic priest, into exile and killed more than 200 people.
     The Brazilians and Chileans who are staying on will be joined by
Argentines and others in a force that will eventually number 6,700 troops
and 1,622 police, and have a broader mandate of preparing the country of 8
million for elections in 2005.
     The participating Canadians will withdraw but leave helicopter crews
until they are replaced by Chileans. The French troops are departing as
well.
     Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue told the ceremony that law and
order was a "prerequisite" for elections.
     While U.S. Marines established a measure of security in the capital,
armed rebels continue to hold sway in the countryside, administering rough
justice.
     "Our most difficult mission will be disarmament," Brazilian Gen.
Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira said.
     "It's a long-term mission, it's a mission that depends on the Haitian
National Police, it depends on the Haitian authorities and we will also
depend on the support of the population. But not on force."
     About 3,000 convicted prisoners who escaped from jails during the
revolt will have to be recaptured, and a sharp rise in crime confronts
Haiti's ill-trained police.
     Rights groups said the U.N. force will have to encourage the interim
government to be even-handed in applying justice.
     Named by a council of Haitians, Latortue's government has arrested
supporters of Aristide or of his Lavalas Family party, accusing them of
corruption, murder and other crimes.
     But little effort was made to go after human rights abusers from past
military regimes who joined the revolt.
     "The Haitian interim government has been dragging its feet: after 100
days in power, there are still no signs of the urgently needed disarmament
program or any real attempt to apprehend escaped prisoners and known human
rights violators," Amnesty International said.
     Daniel Erikson, a Haiti expert at the Washington think tank
Inter-American Dialogue, said the chances of success for the U.N. mission
could be reduced by the end of U.S. leadership.
     "Ultimately Haiti falls under the influence of the United States.
Unless you're going to have U.S. leadership ... it's difficult for other
countries to really make an impact," said Erikson.
     "Haiti is ultimately a responsibility that no one wants to take on --
not the U.S., not the U.N., not really Latin America, not France, not
Canada."