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The Haiti Report is a compilation and summary of events as described in Haiti and international media prepared by Konbit Pou Ayiti/KONPAY. It does not reflect the opinions of any individual or organization. This service is intended to create a better understanding of the situation in Haiti by presenting the reader with reports that provide a variety of perspectives on the situation.
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IN THIS REPORT:
- Amnesty International Calls for Stronger Disarmament in the Wake of Activist’s Killing; Issues Alert for Human Rights Defenders (9/28)
- Police Peacefully Tour Cite Soleil (10/3)
- World Bank Approves Grant for Community Projects in Cite Soleil and Bel Air (10/3)
- Debate Over New Security Force (10/3)
- HOPE Trade Bill May Still Be Voted On This Year (10/9)
- US Partially Lifts Embargo on Arms (10/10)
- USAID Signs Three-Year Agreement with Haitian Government (10/11)
- US to Participate in Next Donors’ Conference on November 29 in Madrid (10/12)
- US Missionary Kidnapped and Released in Cap-Haitien (10/18)
- Haiti Not Ready to Join CARICOM’s Trade Bloc; CARICOM Promises to Support Haiti (10/18)
- Deaths in Cite Soleil Attributed to the MINUSTAH (10/19)
- President Preval Discusses His Hopes for Haiti (10/23)
Amnesty International Calls for Stronger Disarmament in the Wake of Activist’s Killing; Issues Alert for Human Rights Defenders:
Bruner Esterne, President of the Grand Ravine Community Council for Human Rights, was killed by unknown individuals on 21 September 2006. The 38-year-old activist was an eyewitness of a massacre which took place on 20 August 2005 in the Port-au-Prince’s neighbourhood of Martissant, in which at least 20 people were killed and many others were injured. The massacre was allegedly perpetrated by members of the armed gang “Little Machete Army” backed by rogue police officers. ”Bruner is Haiti’s latest victim of a culture of gun violence. His death demonstrates the urgent need for the government to implement a broad disarmament program,” said Kerrie Howard, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Americas Programme. Amnesty International calls on the Haitian authorities to take the necessary measures to investigate the killing of Bruner Esterne and to bring his killers and the perpetrators of the Grand Ravine and Martissant massacres to justice. ”Gun violence is taking thousands of lives across Haiti. It is time for the Haitian authorities to deal with the issue more effectively,” said Kerrie Howard.
On 20 August 2005 police officers and members of the Little Machete Army reportedly interrupted a football match at Ste-Bernadette Park in the Martissant neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince allegedly looking for ‘bandits” and killed more than 20 and injured several others. During the 21 August attacks carried out in Grand Ravine by the same armed gang, Bruner Esterne’s house, amongst dozens, was pillaged and set on fire. At least five police officers allegedly involved in the stadium killings were placed in custody but were released on obscure grounds by the judge handling the case. On 6 July 2006, the Little Army Machete attacked again the Grand Ravine neighbourhood and killed 21 persons, including women and children and torched hundreds of homes.
Evel Fanfan, a lawyer and president of a human rights organization, has received death threats. This follows the murder of a fellow human rights activist, who witnessed a massacre allegedly perpetrated by an armed group with the help of police officers. Amnesty International is gravely concerned for his safety and that of his family. Members of his organization as well as residents of the local community may also be in serious danger. Bruner Esterne, the coordinator of the Grand Ravine Community Council for Human Rights (Conseil Communautaire de Droits Humains de Grand Ravine – CCDH-GR) was shot dead by three unknown individuals on 21 September. A few hours later, Evel Fanfan, human rights lawyer and President of the Association of University Graduates Motivated for a Haiti with Rights (Association des Universitaires Motivés pour un Haďti de Droit – AUMOHD), an umbrella group of which CCDH-GR is a part, received a threatening telephone call from a man who identified himself as “Jeanjean”. He asked Evel Fanfan if he had heard about Bruner Esterne’s murder and warned him that people who spoke out too much would “pay for it.”
Bruner Esterne’s murder may be linked to the fact that he was an eyewitness to killings allegedly perpetrated by armed gang members and reportedly with the help of rogue police officers on 20 August 2005. More than 20 people were killed in the attack, which took place at a football match in Martissant, a poor neighbourhood in the south of the capital Port-au-Prince. The following day dozens of houses in the neighbouring community of Grand Ravine were burned down, including the home of Bruner Esterne. On 6 July this year 21 people were killed in a similar attack in Grand Ravine. Bruner Esterne was killed as he returned from AUMOHD’s office, where he had attended a meeting to discuss these killings. Evel Fanfan and his wife, who is also a member of AUMOHD, have two young children aged 7 and 5. Both Evel Fanfan and his wife had worked closely with Bruner Esterne in the fight for justice for members of their community who were murdered in the two attacks and whose houses have been burned down. A few days after Bruner Esterne’s murder, Evel Fanfan gave an interview on national radio in which he condemned his killing. Colin Reginal, the Deputy Executive Secretary of AUMOHD, who worked closely with Bruner Esterne, also greatly fears for his safety. (Amnesty International, 9/28 – to participate in the action alert, visit AI’s website)
Police Peacefully Tour Cite Soleil:
Police entered Haiti’s worst slum for the first time in nearly three years on Tuesday, strolling past bullet-scarred buildings and shaking hands with onlookers in a goodwill visit aimed at restoring order in the gang-controlled area. The hour-long tour of Cite Soleil was the latest sign of easing tension between President Rene Preval’s new government and gang members blamed for a wave of violence that threatens to destabilize the impoverished Caribbean nation. Hundreds of people cheered as dozens of heavily armed police walked through the lawless slum, not far from the bullet-riddled shell of the area’s old police station. Smiling and waving, the police chatted with residents and visited a U.N. military base that has served as the slum’s only authority since the revolt. ”The people of Cite Soleil have been waiting a long time for police to have a presence in the community. It’s a very happy day,” police inspector general Jean Saint-Fleur said as U.N. troops atop armored cars kept guard, their rifles trained down dirt alleys. Saint-Fleur called the police visit “the first steps” at reopening a base in Cite Soleil but declined to say when that would happen.
Many Haitians said they couldn’t remember the last time they saw police inside the staunchly pro-Aristide slum, a warren of scrap metal shacks where clashes between militants and U.N. troops are common. Haitian police were accused of summary executions and arbitrary arrests of pro-Aristide slum dwellers during the 2004-2006 rule of a U.S.-backed interim government. ”We welcome the police back. Maybe now we’ll have peace in Cite Soleil,” said Gillen Jean, a 26-year-old fruit vendor. Only a few months ago, the visit would have provoked a clash with area gang leaders accused in scores of kidnappings and killings since the revolt. In May, two policemen were shot to death and their bodies burned after chasing a suspect into the slum’s outskirts. The government recently began negotiating with gang members in Cite Soleil to persuade them to lay down their arms and dozens have so far agreed. The talks came after Preval warned gangsters in August to disarm or face death. Jean Yves Laguerre, a Cite Soleil community leader, said the visit should improve life in the area. ”Now the police and the people can work together, and those of us who want to leave Cite Soleil can,” Laguerre said, describing the slum as “a prison.” (AP, 10/3)
World Bank Approves Grant for Community Projects in Cite Soleil and Bel Air:
The World Bank approved a $1.25 million grant to support community projects and strengthen community-based organizations in Cit Soleil and Bel Air, two of the poorest and most violence-stricken slums in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. The new Post-Conflict Fund (PCF) grant, specifically seeks to help support stabilization in the slum areas by quickly providing improved access to basic services and income-generation opportunities for local residents; and strengthening local community organizations. This grant gives residents of Cit Soleil and Bel Air an opportunity to actively participate in the development of their own communities, the hardest hit areas in Port-au-Prince said Caroline Anstey, World Bank Director for the Caribbean. We hope that the projects funded by this grant will contribute to improving human security and living conditions for thousands of struggling Haitians residing in these marginalized areas she added.
Specifically, the Port-au-Prince Area Community Driven Development Pilot Project has three key components:
1. Technical Assistance, Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening of Community Groups/Organizations, towards the planning, management and implementation of participatory community-driven development.
2. Community projects to improve severely deteriorated basic physical infrastructure, while quickly providing income-generation opportunities by rehabilitating streets and drainage canals; rehabilitating potable water supplies; helping to upgrade sanitation facilities; and developing small livelihood/income-generating activities.
3. Project Administration and Management which will finance the costs associated with project implementation, project coordination, supervision, monitoring and evaluation.
The pilot project, which can subsequently be scaled up if proved successful, targets two areas which encompass some 20 different subdivisions with a combined population of about 400,000 inhabitants, of which about 350,000 live in Cit-Soleil. It is expected that some 45,000 family members from poor families will benefit from income generation opportunities created by the project in addition to improving access to basic, socio-economic infrastructure and services. Furthermore, some 300 representatives of Community Based Organizations and local authorities will be trained in participatory and inclusive community development. The pilot Community Driven Development Project is part of an accelerated World Bank effort to deliver services to the poorest slums of Port-au- Prince, areas hitherto largely inaccessible due to security concerns. On September 25th, a School Feeding Program financed by the World Bank’s Post Conflict Fund began distributing meals to 5,600 school children in Cit Soleil. A similar school feeding program will soon begin in Bel Air.
The World Bank currently has $66 million in ongoing pipeline disbursements in Haiti for transport and territorial development, community driven development and disaster management. Additionally, the Bank pledged US$61 million in new financing for the period from July 2006 to September 2007 during a donors’ conference held in Haiti on July 25, 2006. The World Bank will participate in the next International Donors’ meeting on Haiti due to be held in Madrid, Spain on November 30, 2006. (States News Service, 10/3)
Debate Over New Security Force:
The executive and the legislature could soon be at loggerheads over the creation of a new security force to be groomed to take over from Minustah when the UN peacekeeping force eventually leaves Haiti. The constitution of the new security force is exciting debate between those who want the return of the army and those that favour a gendarmerie capable of assisting the national police force. Senator Youri Latortue, president of the Senate commission on justice and security, said on 26 September that Haiti needs a force that can protect its territorial borders. Latortue, the nephew and former security chief of ex-interim Prime Minister Gérard Latortue, did not go into details on the formation of the new force, but the media took his call for the application of the 1987 constitution regarding public security to be a clear allusion to the restoration of the army. Youri sought to allay the fears of the international community and human rights groups by stressing that nobody convicted of human rights abuses would be permitted to join the new security force. Youri explained the remit of the new force as territorial defence (principally cracking down on drug-trafficking across the Dominican border) and confronting the armed gangs and kidnappers. The national police force, he said, would be responsible for maintaining order.
President René Préval has made it very clear where he stands on the vexed question of restoring the army, which was disbanded by former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1995. Shortly after winning the presidential elections in March, Préval not only ruled out the restoration of the army but also stressed that he would push for a constitutional amendment abolishing the army, which he dismissed as costly and useless. Préval advocates the establishment of a police corps, or gendarmerie, capable of intervening in cases of catastrophe, and able to take care of guarding the customs and the borders, apart from acting as an auxiliary to the judiciary. He wants to keep on Minustah until the Haitian security forces are sufficiently well trained to take over its duties.
With Haiti dependent on the international community for the funding of some 60% of its budget, the government needs to devote some thought to how to fund any new security force and how to reequip the national police. Préval is appealing to the US to do away with the 15-year old arms embargo that prevents Haiti from purchasing US weapons; this even extends to the purchase of bullet-proof jackets and tear gas. He should receive some support in the US Congress. On 28 September several Republican and Democratic congressmen called on the Bush administration to increase its assistance to Haiti to prevent it from falling under the influence of Venezuela and Cuba. The US has set aside US$198m of financial assistance for Haiti in the 2007 budget. (Latin American Weekly Report, 10/3)
HOPE Trade Bill May Still Be Voted On This Year:
A stalled U.S. trade bill designed to bring thousands of apparel assembly jobs to impoverished Haiti could receive a vote in Congress by the end of the year, a U.S. legislator said Monday. U.S. lawmakers last month delayed consideration of the HOPE bill, but U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee said there’s enough bipartisan support to revive the legislation that would extend trade preferences to Haiti’s crippled apparel assembly industry. ”The HOPE bill is very much still alive,” Jackson-Lee, a Democrat from Texas, told reporters in Haiti’s capital at the close of a four-day trade mission to the conflict-torn Caribbean nation. The HOPE bill or the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement would grant duty-free access to clothes made in Haiti with fabric from third-countries. If approved, the legislation could almost immediately create up to 20,000 assembly jobs in Haiti. Explosive street violence forced most apparel assembly factories in Port-au-Prince to shut down. Some have reopened, but others say they need U.S. trade protection to get back in business. Supporters of the bill accused Washington lawmakers who postponed the vote of bowing to pressure from powerful U.S. textile lobbyists opposed to certain provisions, including one that would allow Haiti to use yarn and fabric from Asian competitors. Jackson-Lee called such concerns “appropriate” but said she and colleagues believe they can “re-ignite the passage” of the HOPE bill before Congress adjourns, probably in December. ”We believe we have the support, Republicans and Democrats, that can give the HOPE bill another hearing,” said Jackson-Lee. Jackson-Lee visited Haiti as co-leader of a 52-person delegation exploring trade and investment opportunities, especially in tourism. She said a major congressional delegation would visit Haiti in coming months as a follow-up to her trip, and said she would urge Americans to consider Haiti as a future vacation spot. ”The tourism industry is about to emerge again in Haiti,” she said. “We want to be part of a new secure Haiti.” (AP, 10/9)
US Partially Lifts Embargo on Arms:
The United States partially lifted a 15-year-old arms embargo against Haiti, the U.S. Embassy said Tuesday, allowing the troubled Caribbean nation to buy weapons for police battling violent — and often better armed — street gangs. The move comes after President Rene Preval’s new government openly criticized the embargo, saying it was hampering its ability to restore order and confront gangs. The modified embargo approved by the State Department is aimed at helping Haitian and U.N. authorities “fight against rampant criminal and gang activity,” said U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Shaila B. Manyam. It allows the government to apply for licenses to buy firearms, body armor and other items for police, Manyam said. Private groups, companies and individuals are still restricted from buying arms under the embargo. The policy change appears to underscore Washington’s vote of confidence in Preval. ”The United States government has taken note of the great changes in Haiti since the imposition of this embargo, namely a peaceful and democratically elected government,” Manyam said. The United States imposed the embargo in 1991 when Aristide was overthrown the first time, barring sales of weapons except “in a case of exceptional or undue hardship, or when it is otherwise in the interest of the United States government.” The move barred Haiti from buying guns from U.S. suppliers, but experts say the country is awash in thousands of firearms smuggled in illegally — many from the U.S.
Haiti’s ambassador in Washington, Raymond Joseph, called the easing of the weapons ban a “welcome decision.” ”I think it will be quite helpful to Haiti’s police,” said Joseph. “We thought that it was tying Haiti’s hands behind its back while the bandits had all the heavy weapons.” But some Haitian lawmakers were not satisfied with the relaxed ban and called on Washington to fully remove the embargo. “A legitimate government can acquire any type of weapon from any country,” said Steven Benoit, a congressman from Preval’s Lespwa party, on private Radio Metropole. Benoit said the modified embargo only allows the purchase of small arms, not the high-powered weapons police say they need to combat gangs. U.S. officials were not immediately available to comment on the congressman’s statement. Benoit said Haiti could go elsewhere to get the guns it needs. ”If the United States refuses to sell an M-16 to the national police, Haiti can acquire an equivalent or an AK-47 manufactured by Russia,” he said. (AP, 10/10)
USAID Signs Three-Year Agreement with Haitian Government:
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) signed a three-year agreement with the Haitian Government as part of ongoing United States Government efforts to assist Haiti in its progression towards stability and growth. USAID/Haiti Mission Director Paul Tuebner, United States Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson, Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis, and Minister of Planning and External Cooperation Jean-Max Bellerive took part in this event by signing the agreement. While the agreement commits $53 million of fiscal year 2006 funds for USAID assistance programs in Haiti, these funds are part of an overall Country Strategy Grant Agreement (CSGA) covering the next three years (FY 2007 to FY 2009). The total contribution under the terms of the agreement is estimated to be up to $492 million for all USAID activities that support the Haitian people during this period. Subject to the availability of funds, this includes $312 million dollars to be bilaterally obligated with the Government of Haiti (GOH), plus an estimated contribution of $180 million in complementary programs during the same period, including President Bush’s Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and PL 480 Title II food aid activities. Under this agreement, USAID will partner with the Government of Haiti to help meet the basic needs of the Haitian population, focusing on job creation, community revitalization and empowerment, local government partnerships, expansion of financial services, watershed development, agribusiness and marketing, public health care, AIDS prevention and treatment, education services, civil society and media improvement, judicial and parliamentary systems reform and improved governance and fiscal policy. The United States is Haiti’s largest single-country donor and trade partner, and is committed to work with Haitian citizens and their government over the long term to address the country’s many challenges and provide hope and opportunity to all Haitians. (USAID, 10/11)
US to Participate in Next Donors’ Conference on November 29 in Madrid:
The United States will participate in another international donors’ conference for Haiti, scheduled for November 29 in Madrid, Spain. A State Department official told the Washington File October 12 that the Madrid conference will discuss technical and coordination issues related to the financial aid being provided by the United States and other donor nations and multilateral groups to Haiti. The conference will focus on “stocktaking” of progress being made to bring stability and security to Haiti, said the official from the department’s Office of Caribbean Affairs. At a previous donors’ conference for Haiti, held July 25 in that nation’s capital of Port-au-Prince, the United States pledged almost $210 million over the next year to help in Haiti’s economic recovery. Thomas Shannon, State Department assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said at the July conference that the United States has disbursed more than $390 million to Haiti in the two years since a donors’ conference for Haiti was held in Washington in July 2004. At the 2004 conference, the United States pledged $230 million but since has gone far beyond that commitment. A new three-year agreement signed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with Haiti continues efforts by the United States to support the Caribbean nation’s progress toward stability and growth. In an October 11 statement announcing the agreement, USAID said the pact commits $53 million of fiscal year (FY) 2006 funds in agency assistance programs to Haiti. USAID said these funds are part of an overall agreement with Haiti covering the next three years from FY 2007-FY 2009 that are estimated to amount to up to $492 million. The agreement was signed September 15 in Port-au-Prince. Signing for the United States was U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Janet Sanderson and USAID Mission Director to Haiti Paul Tuebner. The agreement calls for USAID to partner with Haiti’s government to help meet the basic needs of the Haitian population. The agreement will help expand employment and improve “sustainable” livelihoods, increase access to social services and reinforce the rule of law and good governance in Haiti. USAID said the United States is the world’s largest single-country donor to Haiti and also the Caribbean nation’s biggest trade partner. The United States “is committed to work with Haitian citizens and their government over the long term to address the country’s many challenges and provide hope and opportunity to all Haitians,” said USAID. USAID official Adolfo Franco said in September 28 testimony before the U.S. Congress that generating jobs in Haiti is key to the country’s long-term success. Franco, USAID’s assistant administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean, said the U.S. strategy to help reduce political tensions and violence in the most volatile and desperate areas of Haiti is to undertake quick, visible projects that “constructively” engage local residents, especially youth. The U.S. focus is to help peaceful civic groups in Haiti work with local authorities and play a “lead role in moving” downtrodden communities “beyond conflict,” Franco told the House International Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. (Washington File, 10/12)
US Missionary Kidnapped and Released in Cap-Haitien:
A U.S. missionary was kidnapped as he left his church in northern Haiti and later freed unharmed, his family said early Wednesday. The Rev. Pritchard Adams III, a 24-year resident of Haiti, was freed Tuesday night after two days in captivity, his father, Pritchard Adams Jr., said in a telephone interview from his home in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Adams Jr. said he didn’t know if a ransom was paid to free his son, who left a voicemail at his parents’ home saying he had been released. ”He actually left a voicemail saying that he was free and that he was going back home. He sounded fine,” Adams Jr. said. “We don’t know any of the details.” The 50-year-old missionary was kidnapped Sunday night in the northern town of Cap-Haitien, U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaze said. Four men grabbed Adams, his wife and a Haitian groundskeeper as they left Adams’ church. The kidnappers drove the three to a secluded area, released Adams’ wife and the groundskeeper and sped off with Adams. Before his release, Adams’ mother, Lucy Adams, said the kidnappers contacted her son’s wife and demanded $80,000 for his release. They later lowered the demand to $5,000. The kidnappers allowed her son to speak with his wife but insisted he speak in Creole so they could understand, Lucy Adams said by phone from her home in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Foreign missionaries have recently become prime targets for kidnappings. Though kidnappings are common in Haiti’s violent capital of Port-au-Prince, the crime has been rarer in the outlying provinces. Lucy Adams said her son went to Haiti when he was 26 and worked as a principal of a Christian school. He later moved to Cap-Haitien to become a missionary, running his first church out of a World War II medical tent with holes in it. Today, he has more than 1,000 church members. He also runs an elementary school and an adult literacy program. ”He started from scratch. It certainly hasn’t been easy,” she said. She said her son had been threatened in the past but never kidnapped. (AP, 10/18)
Haiti Not Ready to Join CARICOM’s Trade Bloc; CARICOM Promises to Support Haiti:
A high-level Caribbean delegation promised to support Haiti as it returns to democratic rule but said Wednesday the impoverished nation was not ready to join a regional trade bloc. Leaders from the 15-member Caribbean Community, or Caricom, praised President Rene Preval’s new government for working to steer Haiti toward stability. ”We found a clear commitment of the people responsible for government to move this country forward out of the very difficulties it finds itself,” said St. Kitts Prime Minister Denzil Douglas. However, St. Lucia Prime Minister Kenny Anthony said Haiti wasn’t ready to join the Caribbean Single Market, which allows the free flow of goods, services and certain workers throughout 12 Caribbean countries. Haiti, Anthony said, had yet to adopt a common external tariff waiving duties and taxes on goods from other Caribbean nations. Haiti was suspended from the Caricom in 2004 after rebels forced out Aristide, the country’s first democratically elected leader. The island nation was formally readmitted in July. The revolt plunged Haiti’s ragged economy deeper into despair, sending inflation and unemployment soaring. (AP, 10/18)
Deaths in Cite Soleil Attributed to the MINUSTAH:
At least three people were killed in Haiti’s largest and most dangerous slum on Thursday when a protest over the alleged destruction of homes by U.N. peacekeepers turned violent, witnesses said. Residents of Cite Soleil — a teeming warren of shantytowns on the southern tip of Port-au-Prince — said the victims were shot dead by Brazilian peacekeepers. The shootings came after angry protesters confronted the U.N. troops and accused them of razing homes to make way for a road, according to the witnesses, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals. A spokeswoman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti, Sophie Boutaud de la Combe, said she was unable to say whether anyone was killed or wounded during the clash. But she said U.N. peacekeepers had only been trying to break down a number of low-lying walls, to open up access to a paved road, when they returned fire after coming under attack from one of Cite Soleil’s notorious armed gangs. A Reuters’ reporter saw the body of a middle-aged man killed during
the clash, but was unable to confirm other deaths or witness claims that at least three children were injured. Marc Evans Jean, one eyewitness, said someone had tried to hurl a Molotov cocktail at the peacekeepers but insisted no gunshots were fired at them. (Reuters, 10/19)
President Preval Discusses His Hopes for Haiti:
In a sparsely furnished sunroom in Haiti’s Presidential Palace, René Préval’s vision of the future unfolds in color: pink for what has begun, red for what is and what he hopes will soon be. ’’This,’’ Préval says, standing in front of one map of the country showing a meager few red lines, ‘’represents the roads, those with asphalt, currently in Haiti.’’ He points out the pink lines. ``These are the roads currently under construction.’’ Then he pauses, as if to give his point time to sink in, before showing a second map with a much larger web of red lines covering Haiti — roads the president, only five months into his five-year term, hopes to build. ‘’This is what Haiti should look like,’’ he said. ``Without roads, there cannot be development.’’ For Préval, roads have become the cornerstone of his quiet — some say too quiet — but determined effort to bring economic prosperity and political stability to a nation of eight million people racked by abject poverty. ’’The people are not looking for a miracle,’’ Préval, 63, told The Miami Herald in an interview last week. ``They only want to see an improvement in their lives.’’
But achieving even this minimal objective will be no easy feat even though Préval was reelected in February — in 2001, he was the first president in Haitian history to finish a full term and hand over power to an elected successor — with the overwhelming support of the poor. He has raised great expectations, but the reality is one of unprecedented crime; poor government services; the stench of corruption; and tepid enthusiasm among foreign investors and aid donors. Nearly everything, from medical care to hot meals for schoolchildren to security in the streets, is being provided by the international community. With only 10 working state-owned garbage trucks in the capital, streets are littered with trash. After a relative calm, fighting erupted again last week between gangs and U.N. peacekeepers in the volatile slum of Cité Soleil. Government workers fired by the interim government that replaced Aristide took to the streets again last week to demand their jobs back. Critics also note that Préval’s low-key leadership style is creating frustration among Haitians who do not see him wielding power. Even foreign diplomats have expressed concern to him about his refusal to hire an official spokesman to publicize what the government is doing.
‘’I thought things would have moved faster,’’ said 33-year-old Excelent Jean-Baptiste during a Préval visit last week to the central town of Marchand Dessalines, the country’s first capital. ``We are waiting for several promises, and we don’t see anything happening.’’ During the visit, the crowd surged toward the president, who, in turn, waded into their waiting arms — evidence that despite the frustrations with the slow pace of progress and other complaints, Préval remains personally popular. Foreign diplomats living in Haiti and others who have visited recently indeed give Préval and Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis high marks for the strides they have made in returning a sense of order and putting the country on what everyone hopes will be the path to reconstruction. ’’I’m very encouraged by the way things are going on,’’ said Edmond Mulet, head of the overall United Nations mission in Haiti, noting that Préval has delivered on vows to form a coalition government and to rule by consensus. In response, Mulet said, the attitude of Haiti’s political leadership has improved. ’’I think they are kind of tired of all the squabbling and the infighting and not moving forward,’’ Mulet added. ``And I think they do have a sense of a window of opportunity, and are putting aside many of their differences and histories and making an effort to work together.’’
The president now meets routinely with lawmakers and members of various political groups. But Préval, who wound up dissolving a hostile parliament during his first presidential term, will need to maintain that rapport if he is to accomplish some of the major tasks on his agenda. None are easy, and almost all will generate some controversy, perhaps even violence. Earlier this summer, Préval and Alexis canceled all foreign travel to focus on the country’s security problems, meeting with commanders of the 9,067-strong U.N. force and 4,000-member Haitian police force to coordinate efforts to reduce a spate of for-ransom kidnappings and disarm or crack down on the armed gangs terrorizing the capital. Among other critical tasks: judicial and police overhauls; downsize and partially privatize the government-owned telephone company, a major source of public revenue; require anyone handling government money to disclose personal assets annually; change the constitution to give Haitians living abroad a voice in public affairs; and crack down on corruption and contraband. Préval also has been preparing for a conference in Spain next month of Haiti’s main foreign aid donors, at which his government will push to win a stronger voice in all decisions, rather than allowing foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, to set the agenda and spending plans. ’’Haitian law says when a nongovernmental organization does something, it needs to do it with the government. But we’ve yet to achieve that,’’ he said. ``Eventually, the government needs to take control of the NGOs . . . so that people are not doing a bunch of things without oversight. They have to do things in conjunction with the government.’’
Préval says he remains optimistic, despite the challenges. ’’There is an atmosphere of trust from the side of the international community and the Haitian population,’’ he said. “They see the government isn’t practicing partisan politics, and they see this is a government pushing transparency.’’ Foreign observers in Haiti tend to agree. ’’There is a strong commitment on the part of the leaders of this country and a strong will; the vision is clear, they want to reconstruct on a strong basis,’’ said Canadian Ambassador Claude Boucher. ``Now the challenge is to get the critical mass to mobilize behind them and implement the vision.’’ But that implementation will depend to a large degree on foreign aid — and not just promises of aid, but money actually delivered. The Bush administration has asked Congress for $198 million as part of a $500 million, multiyear commitment of aid to Haiti. And in July, a group of donors meeting in Port-au-Prince pledged $750 million over the next 14 months to help rebuild the dilapidated infrastructure. The government’s current one-year budget, which includes the pledges, is $1.6 billion. At the donors conference in Spain, Haiti plans to ask for an additional $180 million for road construction. So far, there’s $210 million worth of road construction already taking place, and another $280 million in financing pledged. The new roads will not only make traveling faster in this country, where the roads have Jacuzzi-size potholes, but also allow farmers to get their crops to market faster — and make a better living. Haiti, about one-third the size of Florida, has about 626 miles of paved roads, according to the World Factbook, a Central Intelligence Agency compilation of data.
Meanwhile, Préval keeps plodding along in his low-profile style, even refusing to campaign on behalf of his Lespwa Party members running in the Dec. 3 municipal elections, because he doesn’t want to create unnecessary political frictions. ’’The people don’t want to hear what you will do, they want to see you doing,’’ Préval said during the interview with The Miami Herald, still energetic after a 12-hour workday despite speculation about ill health. More public appearances will come, he said, when he has results to show, like those spreading red lines on his road maps. ’’The other day I was reading a U.S. newspaper article, and it said . . . there was nothing happening in Haiti,’’ he said. ``The fact there is nothing happening in Haiti is a good thing. It means there is no coup d’état, no protest. But it also means you’ve yet to feel like something [good] is going to happen in Haiti.’ Then, indicating that something is cooking, he said, ``When a chicken sits on an egg . . . one day — a month, 26 days later — a little chick appears, beautiful and young.’’ (Miami Herald, 10/23) |