24413: (news) Holmstead: KNR- U.N. ambassador denounces police (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: John Holmstead <cyberkismet5@yahoo.com>


Posted on Wed, Mar. 02, 2005

U.N. ambassador denounces police brutality in Haiti

BY JOE MOZINGO

Knight Ridder Newspapers

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - (KRT) - Two days after Haitian
police opened fire on a crowd of peaceful protesters
and killed two, the head of the U.N. mission here said
police brutality is undercutting progress and such
action will no longer be tolerated.

"We cannot tolerate executions," U.N. Ambassador Juan
Gabriel Valdes said in an interview with The Miami
Herald on Wednesday. "We can't tolerate shooting out
of control. We will not permit human rights abuses."

He said U.N. peacekeepers will intervene - and use
force if necessary - if Haitian police attack unarmed
civilians again.

The peacekeepers began arriving in Haiti in June to
support the small and outgunned police force in
restoring law and order after the ouster of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

But shootouts between Haitian police and residents of
poor neighborhoods still loyal to Aristide are
becoming a daily occurrence. And allegations are
mounting that officers are killing unarmed people
without provocation.

Valdes concedes that the international troops have
witnessed suspicious police shootings before Monday's
attack. "There was an incident last week in which four
people were killed," he said.

The stakes could not be higher. Such attacks are
fueling unrest in the vast slums around the capital
city of Port-au-Prince and threaten to derail the
legitimacy - or even feasibility - of elections now
set for October to replace the interim government

Monday's shooting brought the issue to a head.

About 2,000 Aristide supporters marched through the
slum of Bel Air to mark the anniversary of his ouster.
Peacekeepers had the situation under control and told
police commanders not to send any patrols in, knowing
the hostility they create.

According to a U.N. report on the incident, mid-level
police officials decided to confront the protesters,
and three trucks carrying 15-20 masked officers pulled
in front of the group.

"At that moment, the demonstration was absolutely
pacific," according to a U.N. official reading from
the report. "No one was armed in any evident way."

The crowd cursed the police, who then fired three tear
gas grenades and began shooting wildly into the crowd,
the U.N. official said. Police then left the scene.

Valdes and other U.N. officials were furious. "We
believe that all we have done in Bel Air is seriously
threatened by this incident," Valdes said.

Since December, Brazilian soldiers have been
conducting humanitarian missions in Bel Air - one of
the most volatile slums - cleaning streets, handing
out food, providing medical services. Slowly, they
were gaining trust from residents tired of armed gangs
controlling the streets.

But the relative calm has unraveled in recent weeks.
Four Brazilian peacekeepers were shot in Bel Air on
Friday and Saturday, and the hostility in the area was
palpable on Monday even before the shooting.

On Tuesday, Valdes spoke at length with Haitian Prime
Minister Gerard Latortue and Police Chief Leon
Charles, and received promises that such an attack
will not happen again.

The U.N. mandate for the peacekeepers - which requires
them to support the police no matter the circumstances
- is being reevaluated at the highest levels, Valdes
said.

"We are going to examine all of the methods of working
with police here," he said.

One key aspect will be recruiting. When anti-Aristide
rebels swept through the country last year and ousted
the president, police officers largely fled their
posts. Stations were looted, guns were stolen.

The U.S.-backed interim government has been trying to
rebuild the force, but corruption is an overwhelming
temptation amid Haiti's deep-seated poverty. Officers
have been implicated in drug trafficking, kidnappings,
murders and one major prison break.

Valdes said the government has been quick to fire
corrupt officers. But the need to clean up a force of
about 5,000 officers is countered by the need to build
it up at a rapid pace. In a country of 7.6 million
people, the force needs to have about 33,000 to
effectively patrol the rugged terrain.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan raised the issue of
police abuses in his February report on the Haiti
mission, made public Wednesday.

"I remain concerned about the human rights situation,
including allegations of human rights abuses
attributed to Haitian police officers," Annan wrote.

Valdes said this issue is the most important challenge
facing the peacekeeping force today. "What is being
played out in this moment of Haitian history is
crucial."

---

© 2005, The Miami Herald.





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