25081: Wharram - News - Violence clouds Haitians' hopes for elections (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

>From Bruce Wharram <bruce.wharram@sev.org>


Yahoo! News
Violence clouds Haitians' hopes for elections

By Gary Marx Tribune foreign correspondent

Fourteen months ago, rebel commander Guy Philippe rode triumphantly into
this capital city in a shiny SUV after his ragtag army helped oust
democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

A former police official and a political novice, Philippe now is one of a
handful of possible presidential candidates as elections--beginning in
October--approach in this shattered Caribbean nation.

"I have no weapons. I'm a politician now," said Philippe, 37, sipping a cold
beer and flashing a smile at a poolside restaurant as he discussed
fundraising and campaign stops.

Yet elections are the furthest thing from many Haitians' minds. Instead,
they say they are preoccupied by the island nation's many problems,
including kidnappings, carjackings, random shootings, gang warfare and
abject poverty.

At least 600 people have been killed in political violence since
pro-Aristide gangs stepped up attacks in September. International observers
question whether Haiti is stable enough to conduct viable elections.

"A secure environment for political debate, campaigning and voting is
essential for free and fair elections," a delegation from the Organization
of American States wrote last month. "Urgent measures must be taken to
suppress the violence."

Juan Gabriel Valdes, the United Nations envoy to Haiti, is less pessimistic.
"If you have had elections in Iraq and in Afghanistan, I don't see why you
can't have elections in this country," Valdes said in an interview.
"Elections are not only positive but indispensable."

Valdes argued that credible elections could provide legitimacy to a new
Haitian government while prodding foreign donors to distribute hundreds of
millions of dollars in promised aid that has yet to materialize. Such
assistance is vital to improving security and providing jobs in the
hemisphere's poorest country, he said.

There have been few bright spots in Haiti since the once-popular Aristide
was driven from office in February 2004 by a growing rebellion and
diplomatic pressure from the United States and France.

U.S. Marines and French and Canadian forces initially occupied the country
to restore order. But they soon were replaced by 7,400 UN peacekeepers who
often have appeared ineffectual.

Valdes acknowledged UN forces have failed to disarm the pro-Aristide gangs
and the ex-military members who terrorize parts of the nation. Yet he
credits the peacekeepers with improving security and preventing Haiti from
sliding into Somalia-like chaos.

"If [the UN force] was not here, this country would probably be divided into
different sections under the control of military or chimere [pro-Aristide
gangs]," he said.

In recent weeks Haitian police, backed by more aggressive UN forces, have
scored notable successes, including killing Remissainthe Ravix, one of the
leaders of the rebellion that ousted Aristide, and Jean Rene Anthony, a
powerful gang leader.

Defying the central government, Ravix had led a band of several hundred
former soldiers that until recently controlled a handful of towns and
cities, including Petit-Goave, about 40 miles southwest of the capital. Sri
Lankan peacekeepers retook Petit-Goave from Ravix's forces in a gun battle
March 20.

Still, residents complain that security has not improved much.

"The civilian population don't have any real confidence in the United
Nations," said Montigene Sincere, Petit-Goave's deputy mayor.

The 4,500-strong Haitian police force also has been criticized. In one
incident under investigation, Haitian police killed at least five
demonstrators April 27 along a hillside ravine in Port-au-Prince.

The security situation is most precarious along a key, 3-mile stretch of
road that runs through Port-au-Prince and in the sprawling slums where
pro-Aristide gangs exchange gunfire with peacekeepers and Haitian police
almost daily.

Last month, a Filipino peacekeeper was shot and killed in Cite Soleil, a
seaside ghetto with more than 300,000 residents where pro-Aristide militants
stand guard not far from UN peacekeepers peering out from fortified
positions.

"We regret his death, but we have to defend ourselves," said Amilcar Jean
Fenel, a 35-year-old Aristide militant. "We want the UN to leave and
Aristide to come back. If Aristide is not in the country, there will be no
elections inside Cite Soleil."

U.S. Ambassador James Foley accused Aristide and his allies of seeking to
undermine the government and disrupt the elections--a charge Aristide has
denied.

The violence has made it difficult for Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council
to organize the elections, which involves registering about 4.5 million
voters before the first round of balloting in October.

The council's Port-au-Prince headquarters was hit by a grenade attack and
raked by gunfire in late March. Three police bodyguards protect each of the
council's nine members.

"If the UN and the Haitian government provides suitable security, we are
extremely confident that we can have elections," said Rosemond Pradel, the
electoral council's secretary general.

Still, Pradel added, the elections could be postponed if "the insecurity
continues and extends to the countryside."

A plethora of political parties and presidential candidates have emerged in
the early stages of the campaign, but few seem to inspire much confidence
among weary and desperate Haitians. Several Haitians said Philippe lacks the
experience to be president.

Aristide's Lavalas Family party remains Haiti's most potent political force,
but its leaders are divided over whether to participate in the balloting
given that Aristide remains in exile in South Africa and a half-dozen party
leaders are jailed on human-rights violations and other charges.

"No one knows who to follow or who to believe in for president," said John
Henri, a 43-year-old unemployed construction worker.

"They are only thinking about themselves and getting what they can while we
are living in chaos."

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gmarx@tribune.com

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