24247: Slavin: (News) Peacekeepers have yet to disarm Haiti gangs (Miami Herald 021105) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JPS390@aol.com

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/10871483.htm

Posted on Fri, Feb. 11, 2005

HAITI
Peacekeepers have yet to disarm Haiti gangs
Although the U.N. peacekeeping force is now at full staff, 'the gangs are still here,' residents complained.
By JANE REGAN
Special To The Herald

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Their M-16 assault rifles at the ready, the Jordanian U.N. peacekeepers moved carefully along the garbage-strewn alley after a lone shot rang out.

''This mission is more dangerous than Kosovo,'' one of the Jordanians, who served in that conflict in 2000, said after his unit emerged from the alley.

''There is shooting. The roads are narrow. There is garbage all over. . . . We are not supposed to use too much force. So what do we use, flowers?'' the officer asked.

Many Haitians might complain that flowers are exactly what the Blue Helmets have been using in their attempts to halt the deadly violence unleashed by the ouster of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide early last year.

Violence in the capital has dropped somewhat since the U.N. peacekeeping force reached full staffing levels six weeks ago and after the 3,500-member Haitian police force adopted more aggressive stands.

`MORE ACTIVITY'

''There's a little more activity on the streets now,'' said Jean-Louis Candio, 27, a community organizer in the slum of Cité Soleil, a stronghold of pro-Aristide gunmen where the Jordanians now have a base.

The 250 Jordanian police officers are part of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti, known by the acronym MINUSTAH -- 7,400 soldiers and police from three dozen countries, with a Brazilian army commander and a peacekeeping budget of $200 million a year.

But that's a relatively small force for a Maryland-size nation of 7.6 million people that in the past 18 years has seen 10 different governments, one coup, one rebellion and two U.S. invasions.

And despite all of its recent progress in pacifying parts of Haiti and setting up new bases in Port-au-Prince slums often controlled by pro-Aristide gunmen, MINUSTAH still has been unable to effectively disarm gangs of Aristide supporters and foes.

On Thursday, U.N. troops were urgently called to support Haitian police in a confused but pitched firefight with former army soldiers who took part in the revolt against Aristide.

And even in Cité Soleil, said Candio, ``the gangs are still here.''

Canadian Constable Jean-Francois Vézina, spokesman for MINUSTAH's police force, agreed. ''Things aren't perfect yet,'' he told The Herald.

Heavily armed former army soldiers who led the rebellion against Aristide still control many provincial towns and villages. Pro-Aristide gangs still run many of the urban slums. And criminals are taking advantage of the security vacuum to steal, kidnap, carjack, blackmail and deal drugs.

''In peacekeeping missions, patience and restraint is the most important thing,'' said Brazilian Navy Cmdr. Carlos Chagas Braga. ``We don't want to create worse wounds than we already have.''

Another MINUSTAH official told The Herald that since Aug. 30, there have been 15 ''serious'' attacks that wounded five peacekeepers. In one ambush of a U.N. police patrol, the peacekeepers fired 500 rounds, but suffered no casualties, said the official, who requested anonymity.

HIDING FROM POLICE

On a recent day, a group of young men sitting in the shade of a Jordanian armored vehicle acknowledged that they were pro-Aristide gunmen, hanging out near the U.N. forces as a way to avoid the Haitian police.

All this frustrates Port-au-Prince business people like Jerry Tardieu, who is also the vice president of Haiti's Chamber of Commerce. The peacekeeping force is certainly provided some stability, he said, but ``people are being robbed downtown every day, stores are being ransacked.''

''Their principal mission, which is disarmament, is a complete failure,'' Tardieu said. ``As far as security is concerned, they probably deserve a 2 out of 10.''

 © 2005 Herald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
 http://www.miami.com

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J.P. Slavin
New York
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