27482: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti election stirs fear, confusion, some hope (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Jim Loney and Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Rife with fear of an
explosion of violence, Haiti will vote on a new president on Tuesday to
replace its last elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted two years
ago in a bloody rebellion.
     Haiti's latest attempt to put its floundering democracy back on track
faces high hurdles: gang violence in the slums, intractable poverty,
potential chaos at polling places, and distrust across its confused
political spectrum.
     While the threat of bloodshed on election day hangs over the troubled
Caribbean nation -- people remember a disastrous 1987 poll canceled when
thugs with guns and machetes massacred voters at a school -- some Haitians
say they will cast their ballots no matter the risk.
     "Even though they tell me I'm going to die, I'll go to vote anyway
because if everybody says they fear to go to vote, the country will have no
chance to move forward," said Port-au-Prince resident Jacquelin Macillon,
32.
     Founded by liberated slaves in 1804, the world's first black republic
has been run by an appointed government since Aristide, a former Catholic
priest and champion of the poor, was run out of office on Feb. 29, 2004, by
a revolt of ex-soldiers and gangs and under pressure from Washington.
     The election, which foreign nations have spent $75 million to hold,
promises a test of U.S. policy in Haiti. The front-runner, Rene Preval, is
an Aristide protege who was president from 1996 to 2001, between his
mentor's two terms in office.
     Preval's pitch to Haitians has been decidedly low-profile. He woos
voters by promising his administration "will not steal," a reference to a
string of corrupt governments, and says he will work on issues like
universal primary education, a better police force and a lower price for
fertilizer.
     "The people want to have hope for a better life," he said.
     Preval's comfortable lead in the polls has angered the wealthy elite
who worked hard to push Aristide out two years ago, accusing him of
despotism and corruption.
     Among Preval's 32 rivals for the presidency are Guy Philippe, the
youthful former police chief who led the anti-Aristide rebellion, Franck
Romain, an army officer accused of human rights abuses during the Duvalier
family dictatorship and Himler Rebu, former leader of the dreaded and now
disbanded army.
     But his nearest rival, more than 20 points back in the polls, is
Charles Baker, a businessman who was a key player in the drive to oust
Aristide.
     The tenuous security situation -- 6,000 local police and 9,000 U.N.
peacekeepers have been unable to halt a wave of gang violence, killings and
the kidnapping of nearly 2,000 people in the last year -- has the country
on edge.
     Interim leaders have urged voters to master their fears and go to the
polls, even if it means walking for miles. But some voters are hesitant,
saying they may wait to see if it is safe.
     "Many people are saying they will not go. Many people fear they will
be attacked because of the big distances they must walk to the polls," said
Yolette Etienne, an official with a humanitarian agency Oxfam in
Port-au-Prince.
     The election is likely to leave the impoverished nation in the same
pro- and anti-Aristide mire it faced two years ago, and abandoned once
again, said Robert Fatton, a Haiti analyst at the University of Virginia.
     "The rhetoric is that the international community is behind Haiti, but
I don't see any real financial commitment to that," he said. "The
indication is that all the major international players are looking for an
exit strategy."




 REUTERS