29388: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Small Steps (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By STEVENSON JACOBS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct 25 (AP) -- Young men with pistols roam the fetid
slums of Haiti's capital -- but now many are looking for jobs instead of
victims. Children in checkered uniforms walk to school on dusty streets
where stray bullets used to whiz past.
   Five months into Haiti's latest attempt at democracy, small but
important improvements have pulled the Caribbean nation from the brink of
collapse. Perhaps most notably, an unprecedented wave of kidnappings that
terrorized Haitians rich and poor finally seems to be leveling off.
   Only a year ago, Haiti was engulfed in violence that began with the
February 2004 rebel uprising that toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, died in almost daily clashes among well-armed
gangs, former rebels, rogue police and U.N. peacekeepers.
   Today, a new government led by elected President Rene Preval has passed
a budget, begun to collect taxes, raised $750 million in foreign aid and
launched a campaign to disarm hundreds of gangsters.
   The economy is starting to show small but encouraging signs of life.
Double-digit inflation that soared after the revolt is starting to fall,
while vital cash sent home by Haitians working abroad has increased and
overall growth is expected to reach 2.5 percent this year.
   "It's a very different place today," U.S. Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson
told The Associated Press. "There are some real accomplishments and some
real things that, when looked at over a year, are encouraging."
   Peace and stability are far from assured. Huge challenges remain, from
employing hungry slum dwellers and rebuilding shattered infrastructure to
equipping Haiti's outgunned police.
   "This is a country where almost everything is broken," Sanderson said.
   A drive across the capital, along streets cratered by giant potholes,
underscores her point.
   Street children with swollen bellies beg for money, crying "I'm hungry"
in Creole as they cluster around stopped cars. Few Haitians have
electricity or running water. Jobs are scarce. Acrid black smoke rises day
and night from burning tires thrown on trash heaps.
   Haiti ranked 153rd out of 177 countries in the U.N.'s most recent report
on global quality of life, behind Sudan and Zimbabwe and ahead of countries
including Nigeria, Congo and Sierra Leone. A recent World Bank report lists
Haiti as one of 26 states at risk of collapse.
   But buoyed by its modest progress, the government is wooing foreign
investors, even touting Haiti as a Caribbean vacation spot.
   "There is some kind of window of opportunity and the sense of stability
that the country has some future," said Edmond Mulet, the U.N. special
envoy to Haiti. "It's still a fragile situation. I wouldn't say we've
turned a corner yet, but I think in the next months we'll be able to assume
that, hopefully."
   The key will be security.
   After the revolt, gangs loyal to Aristide launched a wave of killings
and kidnappings aimed at destabilizing a U.S.-backed interim government,
which was accused of persecuting Aristide supporters. Everyone was a
potential victim -- from foreign missionaries to security guards to former
first lady Lucienne Heurtelou Estime, an elderly widow shot to death at a
jewelry store in May.
   The number of reported kidnappings fell from about 80 in August to half
that last month, Mulet said. Officials attribute the decrease to
government-led negotiations with gangs and increased police and U.N.
patrols.
   Last month the government unveiled a U.N.-administered program to disarm
up to 1,000 low-level gangsters in exchange for food grants, civics courses
and training for such jobs as mechanics and electricians.
   So far, 109 Haitians have been enrolled, Mulet said, and dozens of
weapons recovered.
   "We must disarm to have peace," said Alix Fils-Aime, who leads the
national disarmament commission. "It's a make-or-break situation. If we
don't do it, the whole country will drown in criminality."
   But gang leaders wanted for murder and other serious crimes aren't
eligible for the program, and Haitians fear gang members will return to
kidnapping if they don't get jobs, which are scarce.
   On a recent day in the sprawling Cite Soleil slum, three young gang
members sat outside a squat cinderblock house, puffing on a huge marijuana
cigarette and complaining.
   "A lot of people here are hungry," Richard Jean-Baptiste said, adding
that he'd like to work as a trucker. The other men nodded in agreement.
   "We need jobs. The new government promised us help, but we're still
waiting," said Joseph Jean, 27, who claimed to be broke even though he wore
expensive sneakers and a cell phone clipped to his designer jeans.
   He said he surrendered a pistol but has yet to hear if he will be
accepted into the U.N. program.
   "We're giving over the guns," he said. "Now we want peace."