24488: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Disarmament (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By STEVENSON JACOBS

   CAP-HAITIEN, March 13 (AP) -- Dozens of ex-soldiers surrendered seven
dilapidated guns Sunday and applied to become Haitian policemen, saying
they're "ready for peace" after helping to overthrow former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide last year.
   The paltry handover of weapons -- six aging M1 rifles and a corroded Uzi
9mm -- underscored the difficulty facing Haiti's interim government as it
seeks to disarm rival factions and street gangs. Both groups are blamed for
hundreds of killings in recent clashes that could disrupt planned elections
later this year.
   Some 280 members of Haiti's demobilized army -- wearing civilian clothes
-- stood in formation at their old base in this northern town as interim
Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and U.N. envoy Juan Gabriel Valdes looked
on.
   Most of the men appeared in their 40s and 50s, with graying hair or none
at all. After singing Haiti's national anthem, seven soldiers stepped
forward and saluted Latortue before handing him their weapons.
   "What we're doing today is for the good of all Haitians," said ex-Army
commander Emanuel "Manno" Dieusel as his former battalion stood at
attention. "We're ready for peace and want to help stabilize the country."
   When asked why so many ex-soldiers only had seven guns to surrender,
Dieusel said they had more at one time but gave them to comrades operating
in other parts of the country. The weapons will be turned over to Haitian
police, officials said.
   A U.N. official who declined to be named said he observed ex-soldiers
carrying more weapons two months ago, including Uzis and shotguns.
   Valdes insisted the handover was significant despite the small number of
weapons surrendered. "The important thing is not the number of weapons, but
that some 300 former soldiers have agreed to reintegrate into society," he
said.
   After the ceremony, Dieusel's men boarded four buses bound for the
capital, Port-au-Prince, where they will be admitted to Haiti's police
academy pending physical exams.
   "This is the first step toward stability, because without stability we
can't have elections," Latortue said.
   Latortue said ex-soldiers unfit for police duty could be hired as
customs agents or in other government agencies.
   The ceremony came as critics complain about the slow pace of
disarmament, noting that a year has passed since Aristide left but interim
officials and the 7,400-member U.N. force have not aggressively pursued
illegal weapons.
   Armed ex-soldiers who helped oust Aristide in a February 2004 revolt
still hold sway throughout much of the countryside, while pro- and
anti-Aristide gangs wage almost nightly gunbattles in the slums of the
capital.
   More than 400 people have died in clashes in the last six months,
raising concerns that violence could overshadow elections scheduled for
October and November.
   U.N. peacekeepers have said they'll soon launch a large-scale
disarmament plan, but Valdes conceded that the ongoing security crisis
would make getting guns off the street hard.
   The Haitian army's rise, fall and latest renaissance has caused mostly
suffering for the country of 8 million people. Many ex-soldiers have
demanded Latortue reinstall the army.
   Aristide disbanded the army in 1995, four years after he was ousted. The
1990-1994 coup regime is blamed for the murders, maimings and torture of
thousands of Aristide supporters, and today's former soldiers include
convicted murderers.
   Human rights groups have begun to denounce new allegations of crimes. In
October, the Lawyers' Committee for the Respect of Individual Liberty said
it had received reports of former soldiers raping women and girls in
Port-au-Prince.
   The former soldiers have had several confrontations with U.N.
peacekeepers in the past several months, including the takeover of
Aristide's looted estate outside the capital in December. They withdrew
only after the interim government agreed to give them back pay for the 10
years they were disbanded.
   The government plans to pay $29 million to about 6,000 former soldiers.
There are no official estimates on how many took up arms last year, but
estimates range from several hundred to 2,000.