22552: Brazil's soccer stars to play for peace in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     BRASILIA, Brazil, June 29 (Reuters) - Brazil's storied soccer team
will try to bring peace to Haiti by playing in a match where fans can
exchange guns for entry tickets, Brazil's sports minister said on Tuesday.
     Brazilian superstars Ronaldo and Ronaldinho are among those who may
play soccer-mad Haiti in August to help Brazilian U.N. peacekeeping troops
disarm militias and rebuild the poverty-stricken Caribbean nation as it
recovers from a bloody revolt.
     "Ronaldo's ready to go," Brazilian sports minister Agnelo Queiroz
said. "They (the top players) want to help in Haiti's peace process."
     Soccer is hugely popular in Haiti, despite years of political turmoil
in the poorest nation in the Americas that has sapped funding for the
national team. The national soccer stadium is badly run down and security
concerns prompted the international soccer federation FIFA to ban official
matches in the country.
     The guns-for-soccer diplomacy was suggested by Haitian interim Prime
Minister Gerard Latortue. He said a few Brazilian soccer stars could do
more to disarm warring militias than thousands of peacekeeping troops.
     Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva offered his nation's
biggest ever U.N. force of 1,200 to lead a U.N. mission that entered Haiti
in June.
     It took over from a U.S.-led force sent to halt open warfare in the
impoverished former French colony after President Jean Bertrand Aristide
was ousted in a February revolt that killed more than 200 people.
     Knowing Haitians' love of soccer, U.S. Marines refurbished a soccer
field in a city slum to win support.
     Lula sent 1,000 balls along with his blue-helmeted troops. He may
attend the planned game between Brazil and Haiti. Queiroz said. A venue has
yet to be worked out.
     Haitians are meanwhile clamoring for Brazil's iconic yellow and green
soccer shirts. Some 5,000 are on their way to the nation before the match
with Brazil, set for Aug. 18, Queiroz said.