By: James J. Fay
Riot conditions have broken out in Cite Soleil, Haiti, which, according to a report from the Reuters Wire Service and carried by the New York Times of November 24, is considered "...Haiti's worse slum..." The riots were allegedly provoked by a shooting incident involving the Haitian National Police Force.
Reuters reports that the incident started after an altercation between a Police Officer and a bus driver. During the altercation, a shot was reportedly fired by the Police officer that killed a 6-year-old girl. As a result of the girl's death, the residents of Cite Soleil started street fires by burning tires. The people also stormed a local police station and disarmed several police officers. One of their demands was that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide come to the city and and hear their other demands.
This riot followed other large disorders in Haiti that have taken place during this past weekend. At that time, President Aristide, while attending a funeral for a close friend and political cohort, who was killed by Aristide's political rivals, riled the people at the funeral by advocating vigilantism and telling the crowd to "...go after the big people with the big guns..."
Former NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was sent to Haiti last year at the behest of President Clinton to oversee, organize, and train a national police force just prior to the return of Aristide. Kelly worked with a hand-picked group of present and former law enforcement personel from the US, as well delegations of law enforcement from other countries to setup an "interim police force." This interim force was made up of mainly members of the old military personel who were in place while Aristide was in the US.
The Reuters report states that the resulting permanent National Police Force received only four months training and has been the subject of excessive force charges in several recent shootings. Ironically, members of the "interim police force" that Mr. Kelly worked with initially, and UN Peacekeepers, were sent into Cite Soeil to help rescue the National Police from the citizens. Reports continue that a tense situation exists in Haiti.
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