24397: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti's fragile government (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

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   By MICHELLE FAUL

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 2 (AP) -- Haiti's latest jailbreak has highlighted
the growing fragility of the U.S.-backed government, raising questions over
whether it can keep power long enough to hold elections in a power vacuum
created by the rebellion that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
   Guards unlocked the doors and detainees fled, including some who went
unwillingly, according to escapees and human rights activists. One of the
most popular inmates, former Premier Yvon Neptune, enjoyed a dinner in
freedom -- before asking to be locked up again.
   "If you cannot secure Haiti's biggest prison, how can you secure the
country for elections?" asked Kettly Julien, of the Mobile Institute of
Democratic Education, which monitors prisons.
   Rumors abound about the escape Feb. 19 at Haiti's National Penitentiary,
which was overcrowded with 1,257 detainees -- Aristide politicians and
supporters, former police officers, drug traffickers and people accused of
common crimes.
   "These events gravely affect the political credibility" of an interim
government under the direction of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, said a
statement by the Council of Sages, which helped choose the interim leader.
The jailbreak also showed "the depth of corruption in the public
administration," the council said Wednesday.
   Civil groups have demanded Latortue's resignation, and there were rumors
this week of a Cabinet reshuffle that would be the second in four months.
   Latortue refuses to resign, saying the calls come from businessmen to
whom he has refused to give favors.
   Some politicians fear that Latortue's departure could derail an
electoral process supposed to lead to legislative and presidential
elections in October and November.
   The demands themselves are a destabilizing factor in a country of 8
million where 7,400 U.N. peacekeepers and a demoralized police force are in
constant confrontation with pro-Aristide street gangs and former soldiers
who helped oust Aristide and now refuse to disarm.
   Thousands have been forced from their homes since Aristide fled last
February. Hundreds of Aristide partisans have also been jailed -- a point
of contention for Aristide's Lavalas party, which has refused to take part
in elections unless the prisoners are freed.
   With increasing security concerns and multiplying demands from every
sector, it's hard to imagine how elections could be held in seven months.
   More than 400 people have been killed in Port-au-Prince since September,
when police allegedly shot into a crowd of protesters demanding Aristide's
return, killing two.
   On Monday, two more people were shot and killed after Aristide loyalists
held a demonstration to mark Aristide's ouster Feb. 29, 2004. Police on
Wednesday denied shooting into the crowd, although a reporter from The
Associated Press was at the march.
   U.N. peacekeepers accompanying the demonstrators said it appeared to be
a peaceful march. Journalists and numerous witnesses saw police fire tear
gas, and then bullets.
   "The police broke up the march because it was violent and about half the
protesters were carrying weapons," said police spokeswoman Gessy Coicou.
   Outgunned and understaffed, police have had a difficult time controlling
events.
   Eleven days after the prison break, only 51 of the 481 escapees have
voluntarily returned or been recaptured, Coicou said.
   The government also has been challenged by the demands of ex-soldiers
for 10 years of back-pay and the reinstatement of the army Aristide
disbanded in 1995, four years after they staged a coup against him.
Ex-soldiers also have clashed with U.N. peacekeepers and police.
   Latortue's government is accused of giving impunity to people it favors
-- including the ex-soldiers to whom it seems indebted for Aristide's
ouster -- while cracking down on Aristide partisans jailed for months
without charge. Food is scant and security is lax.
   Only 5 percent of people in Haiti's jails have been charged, according
to the National Coalition of Haitian Rights. Most judges associated with
Aristide's government fled shortly after last year's rebellion.
   "They have nothing to work with. The justice system isn't working and
this makes it easy for people with money to corrupt a prison guard," Julien
said.