24430: Hermantin( News)U.N. mission slams police (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Thu, Mar. 03, 2005


HAITI
U.N. mission slams police
After Monday's deadly attack on protesters, the head of Haiti's U.N. mission
said peacekeepers will not put up with human rights abuses by police.
By JOE MOZINGO
jmozingo@herald.com

PORT-AU-PRINCE - 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 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.

SPIRALING VIOLENCE

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.

CORRUPTION PROBLEMS

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.''