22500: (Chamberlain) UN takes over from US troops (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By AMY BRACKEN

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, June 25 (AP) -- The United Nations took command of a
peacekeeping mission Friday, relieving a U.S.-led force a day after Air
France's director in the country was shot and killed.
   The death of Didier Mortet was the latest in a rash of violence that
poses a major challenge to the U.N. force that will help Haiti's
U.S.-backed interim leaders stabilize the nation after former president
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was pushed from power on Feb. 29.
   Mortet, 49, was riding in a car with his wife and a chauffeur when
gunmen on a motorcycle and opened fire, hitting him twice, said French
Embassy spokesman Eric Bosc. The other two were unharmed.
   Amnesty International condemned the killing, saying that U.S. troops and
Haitian leaders had failed to disarm violent groups.
   "The availability of weapons and the climate of impunity continue to
fuel insecurity and human rights violations in Haiti, as measures to stop
this are nowhere to be seen," the London-based human rights group said in a
statement.
   Although the official transfer was earlier this month, U.N. troops
assumed command Friday from a 3,600-member U.S.-led multinational force
that included France, Canada and Chile. Most of the American troops had
departed Haiti by Friday night.
   A Brazilian-led force of an estimated 6,700 troops and more than 1,000
international police will work with the interim government for six months
to prepare the country for elections next year and train the police.
   The country is still struggling to rebuild the police force after many
pro-Aristide officers fled their posts during the rebellion.
   "One gets the impression that someone somewhere is planning, organizing
and carrying out this climate of insecurity," interim Prime Minister Gerard
Latortue said at the handover ceremony. "Today we need the support and the
understanding of all our friends in the international community."
   U.S. Marines Brig. Gen. Ronald Coleman, who led the three-month U.S.-led
mission, said the six-month U.N. mandate was too short.
   "I think this is the time for the international community to give
Haitians a chance," he said. "That means a long-term commitment."
   The Brazilian commander for the U.N. mission, Lt. Gen. Augusto Heleno,
said he expects the mission's greatest challenge to be to disarm the groups
that helped oust Aristide.
   "It is a long-term mission," he said, and one that depends on "the
Haitian police, the Haitian authorities, and the support of the Haitian
people."
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   On the Net:
   Amnesty International: http://news.amnesty.org