27328: (news) Chamberlain: New UN military chief in Haiti vows stabilization (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The new commander of the
U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti said as he took charge on Monday that his
troops were not sent on a combat mission but deployed to stabilize the
troubled Caribbean country before a crucial election next month.
     Brazilian Gen. Jose Elito Carvalho Siqueira said the U.N. troops were
not an occupation force and had no plan to violate the rights of innocent
people living in volatile slums, as several human rights groups have
charged.
     "The mandate is very clear. We are not an occupation force, we are a
stabilization force," Elito said.
     Several business leaders have been pressing U.N. troops to raid Cite
Soleil, Haiti's largest slum, to fight criminal gangs who take refuge in
the area on the edge of the capital.
     Weapons and violence have proliferated across Haiti as it lurches
toward its first national election since 2000. A presidential vote,
originally scheduled for November, is now due on Feb. 7, after repeated
delays caused by incompetence, bloodletting and logistical problems in the
poorest country in the Americas.
     An earlier statement by the U.N. envoy to Haiti, Juan Gabriel Valdes,
about a large-scale military operation being contemplated at the beginning
of this month to flush armed gangs out of Cite Soleil, predicted
"collateral damage." It prompted several human rights groups to accuse the
United Nations of preparing a massacre in the slum.
     "We are here to provide security, to help the people, not to fight,"
explained the new force commander, who said he will improve some plans
already set up to secure the election.
     Elito, 59, replaced another Brazilian general, Urano Da Matta
Bacellar, who killed himself two weeks ago in his hotel room in
Port-au-Prince.
     The U.N. force is comprised of some 9,000 peacekeepers including 7,473
soldiers commanded by Elito. The U.N. police component is led by Canadian
commissioner Graham Muir.
     Elito and Valdes, who spoke at a transfer of command ceremony at the
Brazilian military base, described Haiti's security situation and their
assignment as complex. But they said plans have been made to meet the
challenges and to neutralize any groups seeking to stir violence during the
balloting.
     "We are going to control the movement of the bandits. We are not going
to allow them to disrupt the election process," Valdes said.
     Jacques Bernard, director general of the Provisional Electoral
Council, said on Monday that voting stations would be removed from Cite
Soleil as a protective measure for Feb. 7.
     He said the decision was prompted by insecurity in the lawless ghetto
and to help ensure that gangs there would not influence the election.