29182: (n ews) Chamberlain: Haiti wants 15-year-old U.S. arms embargo lifted (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Haiti's prime minister on
Friday asked Washington to lift the 15-year-old arms embargo that bars the
troubled Caribbean country from buying U.S. weapons for its ill-equipped
police force.
     Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis said the ban was hurting Haiti's
ability to ensure the safety of its 8 million people.
     "How can the police be effective if they cannot get the weapons and
armament they need to carry out their difficult mission?" Alexis told
Reuters. "That's why we have asked the U.S. to lift the embargo."
     The embargo was imposed in 1991 after the Haitian military overthrew
the government of then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It was aimed at
preventing the Haitian army and thugs accused of gross human rights abuses
from obtaining weapons from the U.S. market.
     U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Janet Sanderson said the embargo is still in
place, although in 2005 the United States authorized the Haitian government
to conditionally buy a limited quantity of weapons.
     But U.S. officials in Haiti have prevented the Haitian government from
taking possession of those two shipments of weapons, which are piled up in
a warehouse at the police academy in the Petion-Ville suburb of the
capital, Port-au-Prince.
     The U.S. government wants Haitian authorities to first comply with
conditions set by the U.S. Congress when the decision was made to allow the
shipments to the violence-torn and impoverished country.
     The weapons were required to remain under the embassy's care,"
Sanderson told Reuters. "And those who would be allowed use those weapons
should be vetted."
     Many members of the Haitian police force, including some who served in
the Haitian military, have been accused of human rights violations.
     One warehoused shipment was donated by the United States to the
interim government that preceded the current administration. The second was
purchased by Aristide during his second term as president, but shipping was
delayed to 2005 because of the unrest that forced out Aristide in 2004.
     Haitian and U.S. authorities also disagreed over the U.S. policy of
deporting Haitians who have served prison time in the United States, which
Haiti considers a threat to its national security because it lacks the
means to control them.