Sunday, November 12, 2006
The other occupation
The Beeb's description of the the other occupation, after Iraq, Afghanistan, and Oaxaca
Two Jordanian UN peacekeepers have been shot dead in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, UN officials say. The soldiers are reported to have come under attack near Cite Soleil, a slum where armed street gangs are based. UN peacekeepers... were sent to maintain order after a revolt ousted the then president Jean-Bertrand Aristide but opposition to their presence has been growing.... Jordan has about 1,500 troops in the Brazilian-led UN force, which includes more than 8,000 soldiers and police supported by some 1,000 civilian personnel. ... Students and slum dwellers staged street protests this week calling for the UN force to withdraw. They accuse the UN soldiers of firing indiscriminately during gun battles with gang members, and killing and wounding civilians. The UN denies this, and says peacekeepers only open fire when they come under attack.
The description of the Haitian nationalist side:
What is the reality of Haiti under foreign occupation today?
Right-wing death squads, working in tandem with Canadian-trained Haitian Police, continue to ravage with impunity the pro-Lavalas neighborhoods that make up the majority of Haiti's capital city. No one is disarming the death squads or bringing them to justice.
The 9,000 Brazilian and other U.N. troops and tanks continue to fire heavy weapons into densely-populated civilian areas...
Incursions by MINUSTAH (UN occupation forces) and shootings happen every day now in Lavalas strongholds like Cite Soleil. UN tanks rumble down the streets of these crumbling districts ...
The picture shows a march of probably many tens of thousands of opponents of the UN.
You know, occupation really doesn't work except in the rare case.
More blogs about politics.
