By IPS Correspondents
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 9 2006 (IPS)

The streets of Haiti’s usually congested capital were virtually devoid of vehicles Monday. Gas stations, stores and restaurants were shuttered across metropolitan Port-au-Prince.

The streets of Haiti’s usually congested capital were virtually devoid of vehicles Monday. Gas stations, stores and restaurants were shuttered across metropolitan Port-au-Prince.

Early morning public service announcements blasted over the radio asking everyone to take the day off in accordance with a general strike called by Haiti’s Chamber of Commerce. “Let’s stay home as a way to say, ‘Enough! Stop the massacre of God’s children’,” a woman’s voice urged.

The chamber’s long ad harshly criticises the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti, describing peacekeepers as people driving around in air-conditioned, armoured vehicles and making money while doing nothing to defend the people of Haiti.

But U.N. officials insist the 9,000-strong force is doing all it can to bring peace and security, and at great cost to themselves.

While merchants stayed home Monday, hundreds of U.N. soldiers attended the memorial service of the U.N. mission’s military commander, Lt-Gen. Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar, who had been found slumped on the floor of his balcony Saturday morning, killed by a gunshot to the neck. The cause of death appeared to be suicide, but officials have not ruled out murder, only calling it “a violent death”, as an international investigation progresses.

Kidnappings in the capital have hit an astonishing rate, with police reporting 40 on Christmas Eve alone. The success of the one-day strike can be attributed in part to the fact that most business owners in and around the capital have friends or family who have been kidnapped, if they have not been themselves.

Meanwhile, in Cite Soleil, a suburban slum of 200,000, where most of the hostages are held, several residents are shot daily in exchanges of fire among gangs and between gangs and U.N. troops. (The Haitian police dare not enter the area.)

Over the past year, the U.N. and Haitian police have managed to regain control of several areas of the country once ruled by gangs or rebels. But Cite Soleil remains the thorn in the security force’s side, and it has been accused of both too little and too much action there.

Last July, the U.N. carried out a major security operation in Cite Soleil in which they shot and killed numerous people. The U.N. later reported that all those shot had been armed “criminals”, but residents accused the U.N. of carrying out a massacre.

Meanwhile, many in Cite Soleil and the rest of metropolitan Port-au-Prince have accused the mission of negligence, and even possible complicity, in dealing with violent criminals.

“The strike is basically telling [U.N. Special Representative Juan Gabriel] Valdes bluntly, ‘How many kidnappings a month should we get to for him to consider that kidnapping is a major problem? How many people should be killed every month until he says that insecurity’s a major problem?'” Haitian Chamber of Commerce chief Reginald Boulos told IPS Thursday, after calling the general strike.

“[Torture, rape and killing] has to stop. We’re not in a barbaric country, and all they [the U.N.] want to show us is that this is what we have to accept. We will not accept it.”

On Friday, Jan. 6, the U.N. mission released a statement asking for patience and saying they are stepping up efforts to secure the streets of the capital.

On Saturday, Lt. Gen. Bacellar was found dead.

While an influential segment of the population observed Monday’s strike, some were shocked that its organisers would not postpone the planned action out of respect for the deceased general. Others openly opposed the strike.

Some labourers said they could not support a strike called by corporate managers who had not respected their rights.

The Haitian workers’ rights organisation Batay Ouvriye issued a statement against the strike. While agreeing with the Chamber of Commerce in its strong condemnation of the U.N. mission, the group accused the chamber members of opposing initiatives that would help the poor, and of supporting “massacres” against the poor by the U.N.

In Cite Soleil, many residents do not know whom to blame for the poverty and violence plaguing their lives, but they hope elections, now scheduled for next month, will bring a change.

Cite Soleil resident Marie Charles sat on the ground in an alley Thursday morning, waiting for the shooting to stop so she could walk to the market to sell charcoal. “I don’t know who’s shooting,” she said, as the sound of gunfire ricocheted off the walls around her. “I’m just trying to live my life.”

When violence in her neighbourhood flares up, Charles has trouble getting to work, and then she has no customers.

“I’m going to vote, when they have elections, because I want the country to change,” she said. “I want to be able to live in my country.”

Excerpt:

By IPS Correspondents
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 9 2006 (IPS)

The streets of Haiti’s usually congested capital were virtually devoid of vehicles Monday. Gas stations, stores and restaurants were shuttered across metropolitan Port-au-Prince.

Early morning public service announcements blasted over the radio asking everyone to take the day off in accordance with a general strike called by Haiti’s Chamber of Commerce. “Let’s stay home as a way to say, ‘Enough! Stop the massacre of God’s children’,” a woman’s voice urged.

The chamber’s long ad harshly criticises the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti, describing peacekeepers as people driving around in air-conditioned, armoured vehicles and making money while doing nothing to defend the people of Haiti.

But U.N. officials insist the 9,000-strong force is doing all it can to bring peace and security, and at great cost to themselves.

While merchants stayed home Monday, hundreds of U.N. soldiers attended the memorial service of the U.N. mission’s military commander, Lt-Gen. Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar, who had been found slumped on the floor of his balcony Saturday morning, killed by a gunshot to the neck. The cause of death appeared to be suicide, but officials have not ruled out murder, only calling it “a violent death”, as an international investigation progresses.

Monday’s was the second U.N. military memorial service in Port-au-Prince in less than two weeks. The first was for a Jordanian soldier shot while visiting checkpoints in the notoriously dangerous slum Cite Soleil. In their services, both men were honoured for their “sacrifices” for the causes of peace and security in Haiti. But many Haitians are asking, what peace and security?

Meanwhile, in Cite Soleil, a suburban slum of 200,000, where most of the hostages are held, several residents are shot daily in exchanges of fire among gangs and between gangs and U.N. troops. (The Haitian police dare not enter the area.)

Over the past year, the U.N. and Haitian police have managed to regain control of several areas of the country once ruled by gangs or rebels. But Cite Soleil remains the thorn in the security force’s side, and it has been accused of both too little and too much action there.

Last July, the U.N. carried out a major security operation in Cite Soleil in which they shot and killed numerous people. The U.N. later reported that all those shot had been armed “criminals”, but residents accused the U.N. of carrying out a massacre.

Meanwhile, many in Cite Soleil and the rest of metropolitan Port-au-Prince have accused the mission of negligence, and even possible complicity, in dealing with violent criminals.

“The strike is basically telling [U.N. Special Representative Juan Gabriel] Valdes bluntly, ‘How many kidnappings a month should we get to for him to consider that kidnapping is a major problem? How many people should be killed every month until he says that insecurity’s a major problem?'” Haitian Chamber of Commerce chief Reginald Boulos told IPS Thursday, after calling the general strike.

“[Torture, rape and killing] has to stop. We’re not in a barbaric country, and all they [the U.N.] want to show us is that this is what we have to accept. We will not accept it.”

On Friday, Jan. 6, the U.N. mission released a statement asking for patience and saying they are stepping up efforts to secure the streets of the capital.

On Saturday, Lt. Gen. Bacellar was found dead.

While an influential segment of the population observed Monday’s strike, some were shocked that its organisers would not postpone the planned action out of respect for the deceased general. Others openly opposed the strike.

Some labourers said they could not support a strike called by corporate managers who had not respected their rights.

The Haitian workers’ rights organisation Batay Ouvriye issued a statement against the strike. While agreeing with the Chamber of Commerce in its strong condemnation of the U.N. mission, the group accused the chamber members of opposing initiatives that would help the poor, and of supporting “massacres” against the poor by the U.N.

In Cite Soleil, many residents do not know whom to blame for the poverty and violence plaguing their lives, but they hope elections, now scheduled for next month, will bring a change.

Cite Soleil resident Marie Charles sat on the ground in an alley Thursday morning, waiting for the shooting to stop so she could walk to the market to sell charcoal. “I don’t know who’s shooting,” she said, as the sound of gunfire ricocheted off the walls around her. “I’m just trying to live my life.”

When violence in her neighbourhood flares up, Charles has trouble getting to work, and then she has no customers.

“I’m going to vote, when they have elections, because I want the country to change,” she said. “I want to be able to live in my country.”

Excerpt: