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Haiti police make goodwill visit to slum

By STEVENSON JACOBS Associated Press Writer

© 2006 The Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti ? Police entered Haiti's worst slum for the first time in nearly three years on Tuesday, strolling past bullet-scarred buildings and shaking hands with onlookers in a goodwill visit aimed at restoring order in the gang-controlled area.

The hour-long tour of Cite Soleil was the latest sign of easing tension between President Rene Preval's new government and gang members blamed for a wave of violence that threatens to destabilize the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Hundreds of people cheered as dozens of heavily armed police walked through the lawless slum, not far from the bullet-riddled shell of the area's old police station _ destroyed during a February 2004 revolt that toppled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Smiling and waving, the police chatted with residents and visited a U.N. military base that has served as the slum's only authority since the revolt.

"The people of Cite Soleil have been waiting a long time for police to have a presence in the community. It's a very happy day," police inspector general Jean Saint-Fleur said as U.N. troops atop armored cars kept guard, their rifles trained down dirt alleys.

Saint-Fleur called the police visit "the first steps" at reopening a base in Cite Soleil but declined to say when that would happen.

Many Haitians said they couldn't remember the last time they saw police inside the staunchly pro-Aristide slum, a warren of scrap metal shacks where clashes between militants and U.N. troops are common.

Haitian police were accused of summary executions and arbitrary arrests of pro-Aristide slum dwellers during the 2004-2006 rule of a U.S.-backed interim government.

"We welcome the police back. Maybe now we'll have peace in Cite Soleil," said Gillen Jean, a 26-year-old fruit vendor.

Only a few months ago, the visit would have provoked a clash with area gang leaders accused in scores of kidnappings and killings since the revolt. In May, two policemen were shot to death and their bodies burned after chasing a suspect into the slum's outskirts.

The government recently began negotiating with gang members in Cite Soleil to persuade them to lay down their arms and dozens have so far agreed. The talks came after Preval warned gangsters in August to disarm or face death.

Jean Yves Laguerre, a Cite Soleil community leader, said the visit should improve life in the area.

"Now the police and the people can work together, and those of us who want to leave Cite Soleil can," Laguerre said, describing the slum as "a prison."