27415: (news) Chamberlain: Slum rallies for Haiti election front-runner (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Hundreds of residents of
Haiti's most dangerous slum rallied on Wednesday for an unassuming
agronomist who is the front-runner in the Caribbean country's looming
election.
     Just one thing was missing: candidate Rene Preval himself.
     Preval, the only Haitian leader to leave office peacefully after
serving a full term, is not running this time under the Lavalas Family
banner of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and has distanced
himself from his one-time mentor.
     But in slums like Cite Soleil, which provided the bedrock of
Aristide's support, Preval's fans see little difference between him and the
former Roman Catholic priest whose shadow hangs over Tuesday's presidential
and legislative election.
     "Preval is freedom for Cite Soleil," the demonstrators chanted on
Wednesday as they marched along one of the main streets in the seaside slum
on the capital's northern edge, a teeming warren of concrete block and
tin-roofed shanties.
     Since Aristide was chased from office in February 2004 by an armed
revolt and and U.S. and French pressure to quit, the country of 8 million
has been ravaged by violence, despite the presence of a U.N. force now
numbering 9,000 troops and police.
     At first, the violence seemed political and the unelected interim
government blamed gangs that critics said Aristide had armed and used to
enforce his rule. The political violence appears to have been replaced by
raging crime, including around 1,900 people kidnapped in the past 10
months, many held for ransom in Cite Soleil.
     Haitian election officials have decided not to place voting stations
in the violent slum, despite assurances from the U.N. peacekeepers that
they can protect voters.
     Demonstrators hurled curses, and a few rocks, at U.N. armored
personnel carriers and soldiers on Wednesday. The Jordanian troops who
patrol Cite Soleil and who have lost four of their colleagues to gang
gunfire eventually left the rally.
     But slum leaders said the poor would not be responsible for violence
during the election, originally scheduled for November but repeatedly
delayed by insecurity, bureaucratic chaos and logistic problems.
     Rather, they say, violence is more likely to be instigated by the
country's wealthy elite, who oppose Preval and fear he could pave the way
for Aristide's eventual return from exile.
     "If there are people who are going to disrupt this election, it is not
us," said Augudson Nicolas, a slum leader also known Gen. Toutou.
     Preval, president from 1996-2001 between Aristide's two tumultuous
periods in office, leads by 20 percentage points in polls over the nearest
of his more than 30 rivals.
     Larry Birns, director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric
Affairs, called the front-runner a "compelling political figure" despite
being quiet. But in a telephone interview on Tuesday he questioned whether
Preval, or anyone else, could rule the chaotic nation effectively.
     "I think Haiti is basically ungovernable," he said.
     While Haitian election officials and international groups helping to
organize the vote have experienced logistic problems, the campaigns
themselves have taken full-bore to the dusty and trash-strewn streets.
     Across Port-au-Prince, bright banners bearing pictures of candidates
and the symbols of their parties -- a horse, table, bus and others -- were
plastered on walls or strung from light poles. Election jingles blared from
radios.