24568: Roberts (news) This Week In Haiti March 23-29

[sak-pase@bimini.ws]

M.E. Roberts <meroberts495@netscape.com>

"This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI PROGRES
newsweekly. For the complete edition with other news in French and
Creole, please contact the paper at (tel) 718-434-8100, (fax)
718-434-5551 or e-mail at editor@haitiprogres.com. Also visit our
website at http://www.haitiprogres.com

HAITI PROGRES
"Le journal qui offre une alternative"

* THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

March 23 - 29, 2005
Vol. 23, No. 02



AS EX-SOLDIERS REGROUP:
FIRST U.N. TROOPS KILLED IN HAITI


Just over a week after their symbolic surrender in Cap Haïtien to de
facto and occupation authorities, former soldiers of the Armed Forces
of Haiti (FAdH) clashed twice with soldiers from the United Nations
Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH) on Mar. 20, killing the first
two foreign troops of the military occupation which began Feb. 29,
2004.

In clashes with ex-soldiers, a Sri Lankan soldier died in Petit Goâve
and a Nepalese soldier in Hinche.

On Mar. 12, some 280 ex-soldiers from Cap-Haïtien and 45 others from
other areas of the North supposedly laid down their arms and agreed
to integrate into the Haitian National Police (PNH). Aiming to be
symbolic, the ceremony turned to farce. Only seven ancient firearms,
six M-1s and an Uzi, were turned in.

Nonetheless, the officials present put on a brave face: de facto
Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, Justice Minister Bernard Gousse,
Culture Minister Magalie Comeau-Denis, UN Special Haiti
Representative Juan Gabriel Valdés, MINUSTAH commander Brazilian
General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira, and the MINUSTAH Chilean
troop commander in Cap-HaVtien, Colonel Tulio Rojas.

Latortue promised to integrate some ex-soldiers into the police and
to compensate others, as he has been doing since last December.

Pereira tried to give the charade a positive spin. "This shows the
will of these people to reintegrate into society and leave
clandestinity," he said. "I have said since the beginning of the
mission (Minustah) that it is important to physically disarm people,
but it is much more important to disarm the spirit (...) It is
difficult to live in clandestinity. Therefore, the other groups
should follow the example of what has occurred today."

Pereira's statement bordered on preposterous because not only have
the ex-soldiers not been living clandestinely, they continue to
occupy, as they did in Cap HaVtien, government buildings and police
stations throughout much of the country, and even take part in joint
patrols with the MINUSTAH in cracking-down on popular neighborhoods.

Moreover, their example did not seem to inspire the ex-soldiers
around Haiti."We will never lay down our weapons as this government
wants," said Jean Odinel Loradin, a spokesman for ex-soldiers in
Cayes. "We do not understand what happened in Cap-Haïtien. We do not
understand how these men could give their weapons to this government.
It should be said that certain people in the movement are not
soldiers. There are sympathizers who have slipped into the ranks. So,
for us, those which gave their weapons in Cap-Haïtien without
consulting the other areas are only sympathizers."

Meanwhile, ex-soldiers in the Central Department said that the
majority of the soldiers from the North had joined them... with their
weapons. They said the de facto government was distributing money to
certain groups of ex-soldiers in order to create division. "I ask the
soldiers of all the geographical departments of the country to
tighten their ranks, because Commander Jean-Baptiste and other
leaders of the movement are with you," said "Commander" Joseph
Jean-Baptiste from his Central Plateau base in Terre Neuve.

One week later, on Mar. 20, a group of Nepalese UN troops were
ambushed as they patrolled the streets of Hinche, the Central
Plateau's largest town. One Nepalese soldier was killed, according to
MINUSTAH spokesman, Damian Onses Cardona, and the ex-soldiers made
off with the MINUSTAH's vehicle. It is rumored that fugitive
ex-soldier leader, former Corporal Remissainthe Ravix, specifically
ordered the attack on the Nepalese.

A few hours earlier, in Petit-Goâve, ex-soldiers clashed with
MINUSTAH troops who had come to dislodge them from the police station
they had occupied since August 2004. One Sri Lankan was killed and
two ex-soldiers. Three UN troops were wounded, ten ex-soldiers, and
three bystanders.

General Pereira himself tried for half an hour to convince the
ex-soldiers to surrender peacefully, but with no success. After the
battle, thirty-five ex-soldiers were arrested, including the ten
wounded.

In the department of Grand' Anse, Joel Domenica, the examining
magistrate of Jérémie, called on de facto authorities to carry out a
disarmament campaign in the area. "Armed individuals make the law and
sow terror in Grand' Anse," he said referring to the ex-soldiers. "It
is ridiculous that these men have a free hand while they talk about
democracy, disarmament, and elections."

However, the de facto government has relied more on buying the
soldiers then overpowering them. The government has already spend 77
million gourdes ($2.08 million) in compensating 33 of the former
FadH's 55 companies. This accounts for 1,726 ex-soldiers, according
to a report issued by the de facto government Mar. 14.

Nonetheless tensions remain high. As we go to press (Mar. 22), there
is heavy shooting in the Delmas section of the capital and security
around the National Palace has been reinforced. A security officer
for de facto Justice Minister Gousse was killed this evening, as well
as a market owner in Pétionville.

The struggle between the MINUSTAH and ex-soldiers is exacerbated by
the growing size and frequency of anti-coup demonstrations. On Mar.
18, some 10,000 people turned out in Delmas 2 for the funeral of the
three young victims of the PNH: Dieu Béni Juste, Alexandre François
and Wilner SévPre. PNH officers shot them dead on Feb. 25 during a
demonstration to commemorate of the first anniversary of the Feb. 29,
2004 coup d'etat. Father Gérard Jean-Juste, who presided over the
funeral, challenged de facto authorities to stop their violence
against the population.

As has been the case since Feb. 25, MINUSTAH troops replaced the PNH
as the security which accompanied the funeral procession to the
Port-with-Prince cemetery, where the victims were buried.

The spokesman for Lavalas popular organizations in Belair, Sanba
Boukman gave the police a deadline of Mar. 25 to issue an explanation
about the killings. Failing that, he said, popular organizations will
begin holding demonstrations without notifying the police.



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