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<b>BEL AIR: BETRAYED BY THE UN</b> <br><br>
by Leslie Bagg and Aaron Lakoff<br><br>
January 6, 2006 - Port au Prince, Haiti<br><br>
Our second day in Haiti brought us to the slum of Bel Air, an area
extremely different than other areas of Port au Prince. Not far from the
glistening Palais Nationale, <br>
Bel Air is a poor neighborhood which has been hit hard since the February
2004 coup. <br><br>
It's own residents describe a campaign of political .cleansing"
happening here. <br><br>
Bel Air has been the site of several massacres. On June 4 2005, CIVPOL
(UN .Civilian. Police . now known as UNPOL) forces killed 14 people. On
February 25 2005 14 people were killed by police as Brazilian UN soldiers
looked on. Our brief visit today gave us a good idea of the impact that
this cleansing has on people's daily lives.<br><br>
UN Brazilian MINUSTA (Mission Nations Unies de Stabilization en Haiti)
forces are omnipresent here, sitting at checkpoints behind roadblocks on
the street and patrolling around. Directly adjacent to one of the
checkpoints sits one of the taller buildings of the area - a building
which has been occupied by MINUSTAH. Military camouflage<br>
netting is draped from the windows, and soldiers peer down at the
street.<br><br>
As we walk by and snap photos, one soldier comes running out of a
building. He stops us and demands to see our press passes. American
independent journalist Kevin Pina explains that this is the first time
they have done this. Their efforts to control the press seem to have gone
up a notch. As the soldiers write down our names it becomes clear that
they don't want journalists roaming freely here. They invite us on a
press tour in Fort National, another area of Port au Prince. Journalists
who go on these tours are escorted around by armed guards, speak to the
people the UN want them to speak to and see what they want them to see.
We decline.<br><br>
Perhaps the MINUSTA have good reason to be nervous for the world to see
what they have been doing in places like Bel Air. Later in our visit, we
have a chance to meet with Robert Montinard, the coordinator of a group
called Zakat Enfant. He explains to us that his group has been a bridge
between the UN and the community.<br>
Unfortunately it is a bridge that is quickly burning.<br><br>
After a meeting between community leaders and UN officials to discuss
human rights abuses in the community, Zakat Enfant signed a contract with
the UN to help them implement their program - DDR: Disarmament,
Demobilization, and Reinsertion. The deal was that youth in the
neighborhood would give up their arms, and in return they would not be
arrested or harassed (unless they do something else wrong) and the UN
would provide badly needed social programs. Bel Air is a neighborhood
where many children can go up to 3 days without food and do not have a
chance to go to school or have access to health care. It sounds nice,
except there's one problem . the UN isn't holding up their part of the
deal.<br><br>
Since the beginning of the program, dozens of people have given up their
guns, but all they've gotten in return is a pass card with their picture
on it, part of the UN's program of social control. Eloi, for example, is
a local kid we met who traded in his gun under DDR. In return, all he got
was his plastic UN photo id which will theoretically allow him to get
through the UN checkpoints unbothered.<br><br>
2 people who returned their arms have already been arrested and the
promised social programs have yet to appear. As Robert says,
"Christmas passed without even one candy for the
kids".<br><br>
Now Robert is between a rock and a hard place. On the one side UN
officials are pushing him to continue with the program, on the other
side, the increasingly frustrated community sees Robert and Zakat Enfant
as traitors and are taking out their anger on them. Robert tells us he
cannot walk around freely in his own community anymore. And what of his
group, Zakat Enfant? The organization was supposed to help kids
traumatized by war, and give them workshops in non-violence, but they
have been sold-out by the UN and rendered useless.<br><br>
Others are very clear about who's to blame for Haiti's current troubles.
Samba Boukman, the local spokesperson for LAVALAS, is frank with us. He
blames the US, France, and Canada for the crisis in Haiti. He wonders why
Canada is working against the Haitian people, but he has his theory -
Canadian companies are doing business with<br>
the elite "civil society" group 184. It would seem that
democracy in Haiti is not in their best interests. Canada is lending its
complete support to MINUSTA, and MINUSTA has turned Bel Air into a
veritable occupied zone. As Robert had explained before, "If we're
in prison, if we're poor, if we're dying, it's France, USA and Canada.
It's not<br>
the military's fault. They know nothing. They're just there following
orders. It's the diplomats, the ambassadors, the politicians who are
doing this".<br><br>
We have arrived in Haiti in a chaotic and uncertain time. We were
expecting to be here days before the presidential elections, scheduled
for January 8th, but now postponed indefinitely for the fourth time. The
elections are laughable, especially in the way they are being framed by
the authorities. Today, the UN security council<br>
called an urgent session to debate the continuing postponements of
Haiti's elections. The Conseil Electoral Provisoire (CEP), funded by
USAID and CIDA, have put the blame on the UN and OAS, who have been quick
to shift it back to them. All sides deny their complicity in this royal
failure.<br><br>
As the big shots play hot potato, the reaction on the streets is quite
different. No one is surprised, although tensions are high. Haitians know
quite well that they are being asked to participate in
"selections" rather than elections. Samba Boukman says he is
registered to vote anyway. He explains the Lavalas position is that true
elections can not proceed unless the thousands of political prisoners
being held in Haiti are released, the repression of people in poor
neighborhoods comes to an end, disarmament is complete and political
exiles are allowed to return to the country. All of these issues are
completely lacking from the Canadian discourse. In fact, Paul Martin has
denied there are any political prisoners in Haiti, and Canada just wants
to push forth with any elections, come hell or high water. Although
Boukman is not optimistic that his demands will be met, he sees elections
as the only way the people can move forward peacefully.<br><br>
As we leave Bel Air, we see graffiti on the side of a building that
translates roughly as "expensive life + social exclusion = civil
war". As Robert Montinard explains, the violence that has plagued
Bel Air is violence that is borne of misery and poverty. It's a cycle
that won't be broken by treachery and unkept promises from the UN, the
US, France and Canada.<br><br>
<br>
(<b>Leslie Bagg</b> and <b>Aaron Lakoff</b> are two activists and
independent journalists from Montreal. They will be filing written and
audio reports from Haiti throughout the month of January, specifically
focusing on the role of Canada in the country's current crisis. They can
be reached at
</font><font size=3 color="#003399"><b><u>montrealtohaiti@resist.ca</u>
</b></font><font size=3>)<br>
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