23778: (pub) Chamberlain: Amnesty condemns human rights failures in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Rights group Amnesty
International on Thursday condemned what it said were summary executions by
police, serious human rights abuses and an alarming number of illegal
detentions in Haiti.
     After an 18-day visit to the impoverished Caribbean nation, Amnesty
called on the interim government to investigate the police, and urged it
and a U.N. peacekeeping force to carry out a program of disarmament.
     While acknowledging interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue inherited
numerous problems from ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Amnesty
said, "None of these difficulties can be invoked by state agents to justify
violations of human rights committed in total impunity."
     Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
     The blast from the London-based watchdog added to complaints the
U.S.-backed government is persecuting supporters of Aristide, a former
Roman Catholic priest regarded as the father of democracy in Haiti but who
faced accusations of corruption and despotism in recent years.
     Aristide fled Haiti on Feb. 29 after a bloody monthlong revolt by
street gangs and former soldiers. Pressured to quit by Washington and
Paris, he is now in exile in South Africa.
     The Latortue government has blamed Aristide and his Lavalas Family
party for fomenting a surge in violence that has killed at least 170 people
since early September and which threatens the success of the Brazilian-led
U.N. peace mission.
     Lavalas, which retains strong support among Haiti's poor masses, says
the government and the police are responsible for the bloodshed because
they have targeted the party and arrested hundreds of its allies on sketchy
charges.
     Amnesty said it received information on at least 11 summary
executions, including seven people killed by police in the Fort National
slum of Port-au-Prince on Oct. 26.
     Javier Zuniga, special envoy of Amnesty's secretary-general, said only
an independent investigation directed by international police under U.N.
command could restore public confidence in the local police force and the
U.N. mission.
     Among the Lavalas supporters arrested are Aristide's former prime
minister, Yvon Neptune, his interior minister, Jocelerme Privert and a
popular priest, Father Gerard Jean-Juste.
     Jean-Juste was hauled away from his church on Oct. 13 by police in
black balaclavas while he was feeding street children and originally faced
charges of disturbing the peace, a crime carrying a penalty equivalent to
30 U.S. cents.
     On Wednesday, the authorities presented new charges of plotting
against state security and of murder, accusations one of his lawyers said
were "ridiculous."
     "I never knew that feeding children was plotting against state
security," lawyer Reynold Georges told Reuters. "They also accused
Jean-Juste of murder. When I asked the judge, 'Murder of whom?' he said
they (prosecutors) did not have a name."
     The interim government, installed by a council of elders, is charged
with preparing Haiti for new elections in 2005.
     The Organization of American States this week urged it not to exclude
Lavalas totally.