28854: (news) Chamberelain: Haiti-Violence (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MYRNA DOMIT

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 7 (AP) -- The United Nations intends to step up
security in Haiti in an effort to crack down on gangs that are "kidnapping
and terrorizing ordinary people," the U.N. chief in Haiti said Monday.
   The U.N. Security Council is expected to review within a week a request
for strengthening Haiti's national police force with better-qualified
personnel, expert security advisers and equipment to stem a surge in
abductions and lawlessness.
   If approved, the U.N. will begin securing the capital to help the
government and humanitarian groups do their work, said Larry Rossin, the
U.N.'s acting leader in Haiti. He did not provide further details of what
the stepped-up security would entail.
   Haiti experienced relative calm after President Rene Preval's February
election. Since May, however, dozens of foreigners and Haitians have been
kidnapped and gang fighting has forced hundreds to flee their homes in the
capital of Port-au-Prince.
   "In Port-au-Prince, we have seen a significant deterioration in the
security situation," Rossin told The Associated Press. "This is ...
criminal activity taking place by these gangs who are kidnapping and
terrorizing ordinary people."
   "We are working very closely with the president and the prime minister
to come up with a policy and to use our forces to help," he added. "We are
looking forward to getting this under control."
   An 8,800-strong force of U.N. troops and international police provides
the only real security in a country plagued with well-armed gangs and a
local police force that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan describes as
"inadequately trained" and "infiltrated by criminal elements."
   The peacekeepers were dispatched to Haiti to help restore order
following the 2004 revolt that toppled then-President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, now exiled in South Africa.
   U.N. officials have said the latest crime wave may be an attempt to
destabilize the country and pressure Preval into allowing Aristide to
return. Preval has said he does not believe the violence is politically
motivated.