27476: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti on the Edge (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By ANDREW SELSKY

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 4 (AP) -- A rusty pickup carrying two wounded young
men speeds through a slum as a paramedic sticks a barely audible siren out
a window, hurtling past scrap-metal shacks and the same blue-helmeted U.N.
troops who allegedly shot the men.
   The makeshift ambulance, its Red Cross flag flapping, is just one
snapshot of the horrendous conditions and failing international support in
Haiti as the desperate country prepares for Tuesday's long-delayed
elections to replace a weak interim government.
   Conditions are going from very bad to even worse for the 8.3 million
people in one of the world's poorest countries. An estimated 80 percent of
Haitians don't have jobs. Kidnapping for ransom might be the only growth
industry. Rich and poor view each other with suspicion and loathing. Hope
appears as wispy as the smoke that permeates the capital from burning
garbage.
   Haiti's problems have deepened profoundly since the February 2004
rebellion that ousted elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was
accused of corruption and of using thugs to attack his opponents.
   Experts say Tuesday's voting is crucial to pulling Haiti from its
poverty and despair. High turnout and the installation of a legitimate
government could increase stability, encouraging rich nations to pour more
money into aid and development.
   But with 33 candidates, from a former president to an ex-rebel
commander, running for president and dozens of parties vying for 129
legislative seats, it's unlikely anyone will be able to claim a mandate to
form a cohesive government.
   Many fear Haiti is nearing a point of no return.
   "If we do not stop the decay of institutions and we do not support a
legitimate government, we could come to a situation in which a total
collapse is possible," Juan Gabriel Valdes, the United Nations' special
envoy to Haiti, told The Associated Press. "The international community
cannot allow that to happen."
   Life expectancy for Haitians is 52 years. For those lucky enough to have
a job, the average wage is $1.07 a day. Half the people can't read or
write.
   In the capital's sprawling Cite Soleil slum, gangs are on a kidnapping
spree, snatching up ordinary Haitians, foreign missionaries and
international election workers.
   Haitians blame a multitude of suspects. The poor accuse the rich of
paying gangs to carry out kidnappings. Some say Aristide is orchestrating
the kidnappings from exile in South Africa. The rich complain that the
United Nations hasn't stepped in firmly.
   In a rare interview, a gang leader implicated a local police commander.
   Wearing designer sunglasses with his Che Guevara T-shirt and black
jeans, "Toutou" -- "Dog" in Haitian Creole -- said he knows many policemen
because he used to be one. While denying personal involvement, Toutou
alleged the police commissioner arms gangs to carry out kidnappings and
then intercepts ransom payments.
   National Police Chief Mario Andresol acknowledged problems in the
police. "About a quarter of the force is involved in corruption,
kidnappings or even arms trafficking," he said.
   Georges Sassin, a wealthy owner of a textile factory, hopes the election
will calm Haiti. If not, he plans to join others who have closed up shop
and fled. Only 15 business owners still operate assembly plants in Haiti,
down from more than 100 in the late 1990s. At least 6,000 jobs have
disappeared in the last year alone, he said.
   "If elections happen and a majority of voters go down and vote, then I'm
optimistic," Sassin said. "But if the contrary happens, I'm already
planning on packing up and leaving."
   Sassin, whose wife recently lost a cousin to gunfire, says U.N. troops
should do more to crack down on gangs. "There is a lot of frustration
because we see the presence of all that military might, and nothing is
being done to prevent bad things happening to people," he said.
   The peacekeepers, fearing widespread civilian casualties, have refrained
from making a large-scale assault on the Cite Soleil gangs. Election
organizers decided not to put voting booths in the slum, citing the lack of
security.
   Even the peacekeepers' limited presence in Cite Soleil is problematic.
Nine peacekeepers have been killed since the force arrived in June 2004.
   Slum residents are often caught in the crossfire.
   On Wednesday, George Alain Colbert, an 18-year-old shoe shiner, was on a
main Cite Soleil road when a U.N. armored personnel carrier appeared in the
distance. A burst of gunfire erupted from its machine gun. Colbert fell,
part of his heel blown away. Another bullet hit him in the testicles. A
second man was wounded in the chest.
   Neighbors and relatives carried them into a nearby alley and wept as the
Red Cross medics rushed to the scene.
   "He only had a shoeshine box," one sobbing woman yelled over and over.
   There were no peacekeepers around to hear her anguished words. But later
that day, hundreds of people marched past a U.N. fort in Cite Soleil. Some
made obscene gestures at the Jordanian soldiers inside.
   Brazilian Lt. Gen. Jose Elito Carvalho de Siqueira, the new U.N.
commander, said the troops only fire when attacked.
   "They have strict orders not to shoot without identifying the problem.
But we need to return fire sometimes to control the situation," he said.
   Speaking on the patio of his guarded suburban villa, Valdes, the U.N.
envoy, said wealthy countries must come through with promised aid to
rebuild Haiti's crumbled infrastructure and fund social projects. If not,
he worries Latin American countries might withdraw peacekeepers.
   "There would be no reason to stay here if the only role that is assigned
to the Latin American troops is the role of a policeman of a situation that
continues to deteriorate," he said.
   ------
   Associated Press writer Stevenson Jacobs contributed to this report.