Home »

U.S. radio ad fuels debate on Haitian sovereignty

By Joseph Guyler Delva

Reuters

Sunday, September 24, 2006; 11:27 AM

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) - A radio ad urging Haitians to reveal illegal weapons caches to the U.S. Embassy has angered politicians and fueled debate on whether the troubled Caribbean nation has become a tacit U.S. protectorate.

The embassy denied any attempt on its part to undermine Haiti's sovereignty but critics say U.S. authorities have appropriated the proper role of the Haitian police.

In a paid commercial broadcast in Creole on Haitian radio, U.S. officials promise compensation to those who provide information about people who have weapons or on the location of those weapons.

Haiti has been plagued by political and gang violence since Jean-Bertrand Aristide was pushed from the presidency by a bloody rebellion in 2004. The poorest country in the Americas, it has relied since on Aristide's ouster on U.N. peacekeepers for security and on foreign aid for funds.

Efforts by police and U.N. peacekeeping forces to disarm slum gangs and former members of Haiti's disbanded army have had little success, despite assurances by some gangs that they would hand over their guns after President Rene Preval, a one-time Aristide ally, was elected this year.

It was not immediately clear whether the new advertisements would have any impact on the gun violence.

"You who are listening, if you have information about people who would hide heavy weapons, please, contact the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince," said the U.S. embassy advertisement, which provides a telephone number to call.

"The calls will be treated confidentially and you will be amply rewarded," it said.

'SECURITY CLIMATE'

A U.S. embassy spokeswoman said the initiative was not meant to threaten Haiti's sovereignty.

"We work very closely with the Haitian police and U.N. troops to improve the security climate in Haiti," she said, declining to clarify whether the information collected by the embassy would be given to Haitian police or U.N. troops.

The spokeswoman said among the tasks of the embassy was to counter threats to the security of U.S. citizens, but the embassy was also very concerned about improving the security of all Haitians.

A Haitian cabinet minister said he was offended.

"I am not a spokesman for the government, but as a cabinet member I feel offended that a foreign embassy can be allowed to air such ads in my country," he said. The minister asked not to be identified because he was not an official spokesman.

Several government officials and politicians accused the United States and other foreign powers of turning Haiti, the world's first independent black republic, into a protectorate.

"I think it's some sort of protectorate even though they did not officially call it that name," said former Port-au-Prince Mayor Evans Paul, who ran unsuccessfully for president this year.

"I don't think Preval can make any decision without taking into account the will of those foreign powers and institutions. I don't think the Haitian embassy in the United States could have released such a commercial," he said.