Paul Reineke is an independent human rights observer and journalist based in Portland, Oregon.
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On December 18, 2005, community leaders Jean Louis Colson (also called "Sason") and Hazard Alexandre of the Gran Ravin neighborhood in Port-au-Prince began a process to counter the violence affecting their community. They called together about 500 residents to discuss the idea of working together for disarmament in their community and to begin a dialogue with neighboring communities to do the same.
Those in attendance at the December 18 meeting unanimously supported the "peace initiative" put forth and agreed that the Haitian human rights group AUMOHD [5] (Association of University Students Motivated for a Haiti with Rights) would act as co-sponsor and facilitator of the process. AUMOHD has begun dialogue with the UN and the Haitian National Police to try to secure their support of the process, in order to head off any potential raids or arrests in the zone.
At the December community meeting, Sason spoke to the youth, warning them of the dangerous consequences of using arms. He encouraged parents and elders to take responsibility for the youth and to dissuade them from resorting to arms and violence. Perhaps most surprisingly, he told residents that to come to a peaceful resolution, they would have to reach out to other neighborhoods in the area, and that they would need to work with (perhaps even forgive) the gang "Lame Ti Manchet [6]" (The Army of the Little Machete) as a sort of peace offering. Members of Lame Ti Manchet, together with members of the Haitian National Police [7], perpetrated a brutal massacre that claimed the lives of more than a dozen Gran Ravin residents in August of 2005.
Some individuals living in Gran Ravin are resistant to the idea of giving up their weapons and, thus far, have opposed the disarmament proposal. Nevertheless, according to lawyer Evel Fanfan, president of AUMOHD, all of the residents in attendance on December 18 were supportive of the general peace initiative being presented. Those at the meeting who have weapons agreed to turn them in, on two conditions: first, that AUMOHD facilitate the process instead of the UN, and second, that the other groups of armed civilians in the area who could attack them agree to disarm as well.
Following the launch of the peace initiative, a potentially groundbreaking event took place. On January 6, with AUMOHD facilitating, representatives of three neighborhoods with rival armed groups (Gran Ravin, St. Bernadette, and Lafwa) met to discuss the proposal. "We discussed many points among which was the immediate necessity for everyone to lay down their weapons and to take the route of dialogue to resolve their differences," said Evel Fanfan after the meeting. "The leaders present there were all in agreement that some invisible hands have been manipulating the groups to stir up violence in the poor neighborhoods." Following up on that success, on January 11, a "truce" was agreed to between representatives from Gran Ravin and the Descartes neighborhood, and all parties agreed to report any violent conflict that might arise among the neighborhoods to AUMOHD for arbitration.
What is the context from which this peace initiative has been born? Part of it involves a reaction to repressive state violence. Residents still live under the shadow of a recent massacre perpetrated by members of the Haitian National Police together with armed civilians during the weekend of the "Play for Peace" soccer match on August 20-21, 2005, in which at least 15 (possibly as many as 50) people were killed. On August 20 at the soccer match, the police and their civilian attachés claimed to be looking for "bandi" (bandits or gang members), but also identified as their victims "Lavalas rat pa caca" (Lavalas scum). Those they caught, they murdered with machetes. Most of the victims were from Gran Ravin and Martissant, and several survivors have taken their case to the courts and the press. Some witnesses and their lawyers have since received threats warning them to drop their case, but they continue to press on.
Fear of the police persists. Of the approximately fifty police who participated in the soccer match massacre, fifteen, including two department heads, were arrested for their involvement following an internal investigation. Their cases have been turned over to the state prosecutor, but none have yet been brought to trial. The recently appointed Police Director Mario Andresol has met with AUMOHD to discuss the legal case against the police involved in the massacre, and to discuss the Gran Ravin peace plan. Mr. Fanfan says that Mr. Andresol has verbally committed to restricting police activity in the area while the peace initiative is given the opportunity to succeed.
At the January 6 meeting of neighborhood representatives, those describing the armed elements in their neighborhoods pointed out that poverty, desperation, and manipulation caused them to turn against each other when really they share a common struggle. They also lamented the fact that when there are armed attacks between rival groups, it is often the innocent who are victims of the violence.
Sason has been advocating for disarmament for more than a year now. In the past, he and many others in the area worked with the UN's Disarmament Disengagement and Reintegration (DDR) program, which offered "aid for arms." The program did not last, however, because according to Mr. Fanfan, several residents (including Sason) who had voluntarily turned in their weapons were subsequently arrested by the HNP or UN forces. The "nail in the coffin" for the program's success was the massacre at the August soccer game, a DDR-sponsored event.
After the massacre, Sason and several massacre survivors founded the Gran Ravin Victims' Association to fight nonviolently for justice. Sason says that he no longer accepts arms use for himself or his community. He sees how the generalized violence is affecting his family, friends, and neighbors, and he believes that as a community leader he has the ability and the responsibility to work for positive, nonviolent change.
Turning in arms and taking the road of nonviolence is a courageous step. Victims and families of victims of the massacre who continue to seek justice in the courts and in the press face the possibility of violent retribution by police and members of Lame Ti Manchet. The UN forces have not been willing to provide the increased security requested by the community despite the fact that armed groups have conducted several incursions and attacks in Gran Ravin since early November.
Mr. Fanfan has pointed out that as long as the people have or are perceived to have weapons, even if for self-defense, and especially if they are Lavalas, the police can continue to label them "bandi." Now, with increasingly strident demands from the Haitian business community and elsewhere for UN peacekeeping forces to "crack down" on "gang-ridden" communities, there is fear in the Gran Ravin/Martissant area that their peace initiative will be lost in the crisis of deadly UN raids on their community.
Maintaining arms for self-defense might seem a reasonable, even logical response under such threatening conditions. Some of those leading the nonviolence initiative once accepted this, but now feel that de-escalation and nonviolent reconciliation are necessary steps toward the peace that they desire. Their success in bringing together former rival groups into an apparent truce with plans for disengagement is a hopeful sign that this could work.
Update from the author,
March 20, 2006
As of today, the cease-fire between the formerly rival groups from Gran Ravin, Ti Bwa, and Descartes holds strong. On March 19, a party was held in Martissant to celebrate this newfound solidarity and to renew the call for disarmament. According to Agence Haitienne de Presse, a soccer match took place as well as a laying down of illegal weapons. The predominant feeling at the celebration was that of a common interest in peace and cooperation.
The area has seen drastically reduced conflict, several people have turned over arms to the UN, and the Haitian National Police appear to have refrained from disrupting the process. However, on March 9, six of the fifteen police in jail for their alleged involvement in the massacre were released on their own personal recognizance.
The Gran Ravin model, together with AUMOHD, has inspired residents of another Port-au-Prince neighborhood, Pele, to form a similarly motivated Community Human Rights Council. They have begun their work by identifying the whereabouts of 63 Pele youth arbitrarily arrested and jailed. With the legal help of AUMOHD, 16 of the 63 have been released so far.
The injustices persist, but so does the struggle to overcome them and to find peace.