27464: (news) Chamberlain: UN troops step up patrols ahead of Haiti election (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Kieran Murray

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 4 (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeeping soldiers
and police stepped up patrols in the Haitian capital on Saturday to ward
off violence during the Caribbean nation's first election since
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted two years ago.
     A U.N. official said they planned an "exercise" to ensure the
oft-delayed presidential and legislative election, now set for Tuesday,
happened in a "safe and secure manner."
     "People will see a lot of soldiers and a lot of police around to make
sure people know the election is going to go smoothly," said David
Wimhurst, a spokesman for the U.N. mission in Haiti.
     A white U.N. armored personnel carrier with a half dozen blue-helmeted
soldiers cruised a main road near the Port-au-Prince airport and troops
pulled over passenger buses and searched occupants.
     "It's a dangerous city and a dangerous time. People are nervous," said
a Brazilian soldier with the U.N. force near the airport. "We are nervous."
     Haiti was tense three days ahead of the vote, aimed at setting the
poorest nation in the Americas back on a democratic track after Aristide, a
champion of the poor who was accused of despotism and corruption, was
chased into exile by a bloody rebellion in February 2004.
     Two leading candidates for president, businessman Charles Baker and
former President Leslie Manigat, had major street rallies planned for
Saturday in Port-au-Prince as campaigning entered its final hours. The
government decreed electioneering should end by Sunday night.
     Presidential front-runner Rene Preval, a former Aristide ally who is
opposed by Haiti's business elite, called off a major rally in front of the
National Palace on Saturday because of threats of an attack against his
supporters.
     The U.N. force, sent to back a feeble Haitian police department after
the 2004 rebellion that sent Aristide into exile in South Africa, has
nearly 7,300 soldiers and 1,800 civilian police on the ground.
     Despite the fears of violence, political leaders and election
officials have urged the 3.5 million voters to cast their ballots, even if
it means walking miles to a voting center.
     "It's only your ballot that will establish a true peace in the
country," President Boniface Alexandre told Haitians in a nationally
televised address on Friday night. "It's only your ballot that will
establish a real democracy."
     Haiti, where most people get by on less than $2 a day, has been
ravaged by violence since the fall of Aristide on Feb. 29, 2004.
Peacekeepers engage in frequent battles with slum gangs, hundreds of people
have been killed and nearly 2,000 have been kidnapped for ransom in the
last year.
     The violence seemed to have ebbed slightly in recent days.
     Cautionary preparations for Tuesday's vote were in high gear. Schools
closed on Friday and were not expected to reopen for a week. Public
administration offices will not open until Wednesday. American Airlines has
canceled flights to Port-au-Prince on Monday and Tuesday.