UN Cracks Down on Gangs, Residents Demand Peace
CITÉ SOLEIL, HAITI — United Nations soldiers have launched two major operations this past month with the aim of routing out heavily armed gangs in the Cité Soleil slum in the north of Port-au-Prince. The two recent operations have taken aim at the leaders of the Boston and Belekou zones, Evens and Amaral Duclona respectively, and have arrested a total of 57 alleged gang members.
On February 9, over 700 UN soldiers with the support of 34 armored personnel carriers, encountered heavy resistance as they staged a 12 hour operation in Boston. With the element of surprise in mind and the added protection of darkness, the operation began at 3 AM Friday morning and resistance tapered off well into the afternoon. Tracer fire lit up the early morning sky and if heavy automatic weapons fire didn't jolt residents out of bed, thuds from 30mm canon fire did. UN troops fired over 10,000 rounds of ammunition while Evens' group fired thousands more in return.
A woman yelling "don't shoot!" waved her arms in the air as two men pushed a wounded man in a wheelbarrow through the deserted marketplace. He was wrapped in a blanket and had been shot in the back. Four were killed in the operation and seven wounded. As in most conflicts, civilians shoulder the vast majority of the casualties here.
The goals of the operation were to arrest Evens, his entourage and to take control of his base. His colorful Jamaica Base was taken over by the UN and a wall protecting its security was destroyed. Two SUVs and a box truck at the base were also destroyed by the UN.
Evens, a man MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) charges with kidnapping, rape, murder and holding the population hostage by intimidation, was not found and is believed to be in hiding.
A demonstration took place at the market in front of one of the UN's now numerous outposts in Cité Soleil during the middle of the operation. Demonstrator's demanded peace and an end to UN military occupation of the populous sea-side slum. White sheets were also placed on the main road in Boston symbolizing the residents desire for peace.
During the Boston operation UN soldiers fought gang members in a pitched battle for control of a school the UN claims was being used to attack it's soldiers. The now bullet riddled school is another UN outpost and the children who attended school there can no longer do so.
The fact that former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide built the school puts the UN in no better situation with residents who see the UN as an occupying force aligned with the people who forced Aristide from power in a coup d'etat on February 29, 2004. Aristide still holds broad support in Cité Soleil and other poor neighborhoods in the capital.
On February 15, Cité Soleil saw another demonstration. Event organizers estimated that five to six thousand people were in attendance. The demands of the demonstrators remained the same, with one exception: The school taken in the Boston operation be returned to the people and their children be allowed to return to school. Students attended the demonstration wearing their school uniforms.
The demonstration convened, at one point, in front of the school. A UN flag now hangs from the front of the building and two armored personnel carriers were parked in front. The children who took classes at the school have no where else to go as their parents cannot afford school fees.
On February 20, a little over two weeks after the attack on Evens' base, the UN pushed into Belekou, one of the poorest areas of Cité Soleil and base of another gang leader the UN is searching for named Amaral Duclona. The operation was smaller in scale and began at 5 AM Tuesday, underscoring the difference in personalities of the two gang leaders. No shots were fired during the operation, further highlighting the two men's different styles.
Amaral's less than modest home was surrounded, searched and taken over. Many of its contents were removed by the UN. In a sea of tin, wood and concrete shacks, Amaral's compound, complete with two yellow, fully furnished buildings, security wall adorned with barbed wire, and plants, sticks out boldly and speaks to the amount of money he was bringing in.
Like Evens, Amaral was not found and is believed to be in hiding. 17 arrests were made during the Belekou operation.
During the course of the operation, civic leaders again led residents through Cité Soleil on a demonstration that passed through the remnants of Evens' Jamaica Base.
Demonstrators yelled "Down with MINUSTAH", and "MINUSTAH steals our goats!", a popular slogan in Cité Soleil and indeed, much of Haiti. Allegedly, Jordanian members of MINUSTAH stole goats and brought them back to base to eat when they were stationed in Cité Soleil. The slogan has caught on and has been written on walls all over Port-au-Prince.
The UN is now in control of Boston and Belekou and they have taken, and now occupy new buildings that they claim were positions being used by gang members to attack UN soldiers. Kidnappings have slowed but security remains a hot issue, especially when surges in kidnappings, many believe, are well thought out and planned.
The UN promises to go after Bélony, the leader of the Bwa Neuf region of Cité Soleil next in their reinvigorated anti-gang campaign that will be bolstered by an additional 350 troops in the coming weeks.
Ti Bazin, a gang member the UN now boasts about having caught, is said to have been responsible for organizing the building of large trenches that hinder the mobility and access of the bulky armored personnel carriers in the employ of UN soldiers as well as for several murders. Bulldozers and dump trucks filled with sand fixed the trenches dug in the road during this month's operations.
For the overwhelmingly unpopular UN mission to succeed here and with UN soldiers fully entrenched in much of Cité Soleil, trust needs to be built with the people. Many believe that large-scale aid programs are possible and should begin immediately. MINUSTAH cannot succeed as a solely military venture and the gang problem will never recede from the headlines if jobs, housing and food projects are not started. There will always be more ready to pick up guns as long as crushing poverty continues to dominate their lives, and temporary fixes continue to address long term problems.
-Nick Whalen
