24032: Hermantin(Pub)Protectorate may be Haiti's only alternative (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sun, Jan. 02, 2005

COMMENTARY


Protectorate may be Haiti's only alternative

BY GABRIEL MARCELLA

marcella@pa.net


Always a step away from crisis

Haiti is a failed state. It needs a vast amount of international support,
and above all, security.

But the international community has a more fundamental decision to make.
Will it continue to operate under the assumption that Haiti is a sovereign
state or will it recognize that adherence to this sacred principle may be an
impediment to resolving conflict and restoring the badly-depleted ecology?
Haiti does not have the political and institutional capacity to utilize its
sovereignty. Moreover, sovereignty as a theory of international order has
little value to people attempting to survive in a hell of zero sum politics,
of ever escalating violence, disease, starvation, and of socio-economic and
ecological ruin beyond description.

If the international community continues to operate under the assumption
that Haiti is sovereign, it will be forced to deal with a state which has
historically exploited or killed other Haitians. This will inevitably mean
working with some elected government, under the mistaken belief that an
election is meaningful, that it constitutionally transfers power to the
legitimate winner that has the interests of the people at heart. In fact,
history shows that it will merely install another set of predators, who will
manipulate foreign support to strengthen their political power.

The notion of a protectorate in the 21st century is unpopular, especially
among Haiti's proud people. But

it may be the only alternative

left.

This would require a multi-year commitment by the United Nations to take
over responsibility. There ought to be sufficient military force on the
ground to maintain security, prevent violence, disarm the population,
protect infrastructure, and to begin nurturing habits of self-reliance
rather than self-destruction. Fundamental would be a massive
ecologically-based strategy to plant trees, restore soil, resuscitate
agricultural production, and provide incentives for people to resume a more
dignified existence in the countryside. Less than 2 percent of the tree
cover survives, down from 17 percent some 30 years ago. Heavy rains simply
wash the topsoil into the Caribbean. By the mid 1990s an estimated 20
percent of the topsoil was depleted. Trees have to be planted and protected.
In the 1980s the United States Agency for International Development helped
plant millions of trees, but Haitians cut them down almost as fast in order
to make firewood to cook with. Ecologically and administratively,
Port-au-Prince's population is too large. With unemployment levels hovering
at 80 percent, some of these people should return to the land.

Security would also provide greater incentive for foreign investment to
return and create jobs. As General Thomas Hill, retired commander of the
U.S. Southern Command, warns: ``Unless the Haitian people are able to lift
themselves from abject misery to at least dignified poverty and develop some
semblance of working institutions, Haiti's problems will continue to haunt
the United States. Short of a comprehensive long-term international effort
to support Haiti, we will always be just one step away from the next
migration crisis or political collapse.''

In addition to much more time, the U.N. force in Haiti needs a robust
mandate and more troops. The number of countries providing forces should
also be expanded, with enough soldiers to allow allocation of national
responsibilities according to departments.

Employing thousands of Haitians, these contingents could also perform
complementary reconstruction tasks, such as security, bridge and road
construction, building schools and medical facilities, water and sanitation.
But the task should not be left to soldiers alone; the challenge of
implementing a long-term ecologically-based strategy should be placed in the
hands of a civilian administrator, endowed with enough authority and the
resources to do the job.

While the reconstruction of Haiti is under way, the international community
must avoid the seduction of another early exit, lest it leave Haiti to
endless cycles of rapacious government of little legitimacy, followed by
self-destruction, and boat people.

Gabriel Marcella teaches strategy at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle,
Pa.