30391: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti slum residents enjoy new peace, want more (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 18 (Reuters) - Residents of Haiti's largest
slums are enjoying more undisturbed nights since U.N. peacekeepers cleared
out armed gangs, but they still want to see food, jobs and other hoped-for
benefits of the new peace.
     U.N. troops have dismantled a number of street gangs in the capital's
sprawling slums since the beginning of the year and forced dozens of feared
gang leaders to flee.
     But residents say a dearth of social and economic programs may yet
hamper efforts to achieve durable stability in Haiti, the poorest country
in the Americas.
     "It's true the security situation has considerably improved, but you
can't eat security. You need food and jobs and schools," said Mackenzy
Pierre-Paul, a 32-year-old resident of Cite Soleil, Haiti's largest slum.
     "The government and the international community need to rapidly invest
in social programs to keep this peace," Pierre-Paul said.
     The slums of Port-au-Prince have been gripped by gang violence
periodically since former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was pushed from
power by an armed rebellion in 2004.
     Under increasing international pressure to control the slums, U.N.
troops sent to Haiti after Aristide was ousted launched an offensive more
than two months ago that wrested control of Cite Soleil, Martissant and
other shantytowns from the gangs.
     Some of the most powerful gang leaders, among them Evens Jeune and
William "Ti Blan" Baptiste, were arrested.
     When the gangs ruled, gunfire often rang out at night and residents
cowered in their flimsy shacks, afraid to sleep or move.
     Now schools that had been closed for years have opened their doors.
Residents who fled the area are returning, shops have reopened and the
street markets are bustling again.
     U.N. troops and Haitian police play with children in the streets in
areas where they would not have dared set foot three months ago.
     Marijo St-Fort, 37, said she organized a small birthday party for her
10-year-old son Michael this month, for the first time in five years.
     "We did not have enough food and drinks to distribute to our guests,
but we played music all night and had fun until 1 o'clock," she said. "It
would have been unthinkable when the population was living under gang rule.
Now we feel free, even though we still go hungry and penniless."
     Some residents believe their situation has a better chance to improve
because peacekeepers and Haitian police control the streets.
     "It was a very good thing to chase away the armed gangs ... because
you can't have development, job creation and social progress in places
controlled by heavily armed bandits," said Bazil Banatte, who lives in the
Bwa Nef area of Cite Soleil.
     But some Cite Soleil residents express nostalgia for the rule of the
gang leaders, who sometimes shared out kidnapping ransoms and other loot.
     "The international community and the government have failed so far to
fill the vacuum left by the gangs who used to help the population," said
Mirlande Augustin, 27, a mother of four.
     There are efforts being made to address the deep social needs, but
progress is slow.
     President Rene Preval has complained about delays in the disbursement
of international funds pledged for Haiti, a nation of 8 million people
where most live on less than $2 a day.
     "If the donor community and the government do not provide an
alternative to the youngsters in the forgotten slums, violence and
criminality will always be an option," said Renan Hedouville, head of the
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.
     U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said this month the Bush
administration would provide $20 million to fund social and economic
programs in Cite Soleil.
     Yele Haiti, a foundation created by Haitian hip-hop artist Wyclef
Jean, is distributing food, cleaning streets and paying scholarships for
several thousand poor children.
     "But only a massive investment program can bring about a structural
change in the slums," said Max Henry Dieufene, a Cite Soleil carpenter.