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Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 10:43 PM
Subject: [unioNews] Haiti: Rebel Leaders' History of Abuses Raises Fears
From Human Rights Watch
Haiti: Rebel Leaders' History of Abuses Raises Fears
(New York, February 27, 2004) -- If Haiti's rebel forces carry out their
promised attack on the capital Port-au-Prince, the civilian population
must be spared, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released
today.
"A rebel attack on Port-au-Prince could lead to widespread bloodshed and
indiscriminate destruction of civilian property," said Joanne Mariner,
Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch's Americas Division. "Given the
past atrocities of some rebel leaders, and the violent propensities of
pro-government gangs, we're gravely concerned for the protection of the
Haitian population."
The 5-page backgrounder details the history of the armed insurgents,
from the dubious human rights record of rebel leader Guy Philippe, a
former police commissioner, to the bloody past of Louis Jodel Chamblain,
a former paramilitary.
As the backgrounder explains, former members of the disbanded Haitian
Armed Forces (Forces Arm‚es d'Haiti, FAd'H) have been mobilizing for
about three years near the border of the Dominican Republic in central
Haiti. In that region, over the past year, bands of 30 to 100 men have
been harassing police, killing government supporters, taking over towns
temporarily, and recruiting supporters. On July 25, 2003, they
reportedly killed four members of a Ministry of Interior delegation that
visited the area.
Human Rights Watch also described tensions within the rebel coalition,
which suggest possible power struggles to come. In Gona‹ves, for
example, local gang leader Butteur M‚tayer shares power with former
paramilitary Jean Tatoune, the man who led a 1994 massacre targeting
M‚tayer's family.
The reemergence of Tatoune underscores disappointing aspects of the U.S.
military intervention in 1994, Human Rights Watch said. While a few
steps were taken in the wake of the intervention to achieve
accountability for the thousands of killings and other abuses that
occurred under military rule, the victims' demands for justice were
largely unmet.
The United States, notably, showed little enthusiasm for the prosecution
of past abuses. Indeed, it even impeded accountability by allowing
notorious abusers to flee Haiti and by giving safe haven to paramilitary
leader Emmanuel "Toto" Constant.
In describing the roots of the current crisis, the Human Rights Watch
backgrounder strongly criticized the Haitian government's violations of
human rights. Human Rights Watch called attention to the need for a
future program of institutional reform in Haiti to guarantee respect for
human rights and the rule of law.
"Underlying the current violence are deep and chronic deficits in human
rights and democracy," Mariner said. "Until these institutional problems
are dealt with, one can hardly be optimistic about Haiti's future."
To read the Human Rights Watch backgrounder, please see:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/02/27/haiti7677.htm
For more information on human rights in Haiti:
http://www.hrw.org/americas/haiti.php
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