Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06PORTAUPRINCE1336
2006-07-21 19:23:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Port Au Prince
Cable title:  

GOH AND MINUSTAH PREPARE TO TAKE ON GANGS; MANUEL

Tags:  PREL PGOV ASEC HA 
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VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPU #1336/01 2021923
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 211923Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3586
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 1130
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 0975
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT AU PRINCE 001336 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/21/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC HA
SUBJECT: GOH AND MINUSTAH PREPARE TO TAKE ON GANGS; MANUEL
PROMISES "SKY WILL FALL" IF KIDNAPPED VICTIMS NOT RELEASED

REF: PORT AU PRINCE 1316

Classified By: Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson, reason 1.5(b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT AU PRINCE 001336

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/21/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC HA
SUBJECT: GOH AND MINUSTAH PREPARE TO TAKE ON GANGS; MANUEL
PROMISES "SKY WILL FALL" IF KIDNAPPED VICTIMS NOT RELEASED

REF: PORT AU PRINCE 1316

Classified By: Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson, reason 1.5(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary. Although July 21 has been quiet, these days
of violence along Airport Road have prompted President Preval
to invite MINUSTAH to take firm military action against the
gangs. But Preval refuses to go public with this request and
is reluctant to authorize MINUSTAH to go into the heart of
Cite Soleil to root out the problem. SRSG Mulet is confident
he has robust rules of engagement to take on this task.
Preval confident Bob Manuel meanwhile has made indirect
contact with gang leaders in Cite Soleil to insist on the
release of all kidnap victims. Preval appears to be taking
the security threat seriously, but we still await decisive
action and forceful public leadership on his part. End
Summary.


2. (C) Haitian and UN officials have told us that President
Preval has agreed to allow MINUSTAH and the HNP to target the
gangs in a bid to end the violence which has marked the
capital during the past week. Prime Minister Alexis will
speak to the Haitian people tonight (Friday) to attempt to
calm the situation. These steps follow three days of
violence along airport road (Avenue Toussaint L'Overture) and
near the adjacent Industrial Zone. According to press
reports and MINUSTAH information, small groups of armed men
fired shots in and around the vicinity, wounding some
passers-by. Businesses and markets shut down, traffic
ceased, and the streets were deserted, according to
businessmen in the area. The airport remained open and
operational during the period, according to MINUSTAH. There
were no reports of shooting along Airport Road July 21,
although the area remains tense.


3. (C) Preval's chief advisor Bob Manuel told Ambassador
Friday morning that, at the President's direction, he has
made contact with the gangs in Cite Soleil. Using a "good
intermediary" who he would not name, he told the gang leaders
that they must immediately release all kidnap victims and lay
down their arms. If they did not do so, "the sky would fall

on their heads." He claims that the gangs are demanding to
"talk" about their grievances. Preval (via Manuel) has
rejected any "negotiations" until all kidnap victims are
released. Manuel stressed that the GOH will not/not
negotiate, talk or parley until these conditions are met.
Asked why he thinks that the gangs will agree, he said that
if not, MINUSTAH will go after them. That message has been
passed -- and he believes -- received.


4. (C) Manuel said that he has been told that the kidnappers
evidently had not realized that they had seized an Embassy
FSN on Tuesday in their most recent kidnapping spree. He
reports that they are nervous about the consequences of such
a step and have told Manuel's intermediary that they left the
Embassy vehicle in which the FSN was traveling on Route
National 1 outside Cite Soleil as a good faith gesture.
Manuel said he demanded that the employee and other victims
be released immediately. (Subsequent to this conversation,
Manuel called Ambassador to say he understood our employee
had been released. Shortly thereafter, he returned safely to
the Embassy compound.)


5. (C) UN SRSG Edmond Mulet told Ambassador Thursday night
that Preval was willing to let MINUSTAH deal with the
violence along Airport Road although he was less sanguine
than Manuel that the government wants to take decisive
action. The two, Mulet and Preval, are now meeting every day
to discuss the situation. The president, Mulet said, is
indeed angry; he believes that this wave of violence is a
deliberate attempt to embarrass his administration on the eve
of the July 25 Donors Conference. However, despite the
MINUSTAH chief's repeated prodding, Preval remains reluctant
to go public with his decision to authorize MINUSTAH to deal
with the violence. Mulet says, "he wants us to take the
fall" if things do badly. Nor is Preval yet ready to
authorize MINUSTAH to go into Cite Soleil, the slum at the
heart of the problem, and disarm the gangs there. Mulet
acknowledged that absent a decision to deal with the gangs'
safehaven, any MINUSTAH effort would simply be a holding
exercise. He said that he sought and has now received UN
headquarters approval to move beyond MINUSTAH's original ROE
which permit his troops to act only when they observe a crime
being committed. Arguing that the role of MINUSTAH is to help
stabilize the country, he has gotten DPKO and the UN lawyers
to now agree that MINUSTAH may stop and disarm any
individuals carrying weapons, as they are potentially a
destabilizing element. The SRSG sees this as a positive step

and clearly intends to be elastic in his application of the
ROEs, should Preval agree. As of July 20, UN planners had
developed courses of action for raiding suspected homes where
kidnap victims are held.


6. (C) Officials, including the Ministers of Justice and
Interior, have told Ambassador that Preval is determined to
act to end the violence and that he has a plan to do so.
Manuel hinted to Ambassador that the president is dangling
the carrot of face to face meetings with "3 to 4 of the big
guys" in the gangs once the violence and the kidnapping
subside, but the presidential advisor refused to be more
specific, preferring to discuss the matter later. Meanwhile
the citizenry is restive: local business leaders are calling
for a day long strike demanding immediate action to improve
security while others have urged restraint, arguing that it
is better to press Preval privately than criticize him in
public.


7. (C) Comment: It has become clear over the past several
days that Preval is finally seized with the urgency of
addressing the security problem in Port-au-Prince. Yet his
reluctance to give public endorsement to forceful MINUSTAH
action in Cite Soleil -- the heart of the gang problem --
suggests he has not yet mustered all the necessary fire in
the belly. End Comment.
SANDERSON