Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06PORTAUPRINCE459
2006-03-08 20:34:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Port Au Prince
Cable title:  

UN'S POLICE AGREEMENT CAUSES FUROR

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL ASEC HA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2621
OO RUEHQU
DE RUEHPU #0459/01 0672034
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 082034Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2546
INFO RUEHZH/HAITI COLLECTIVE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0984
RUEHSA/AMEMBASSY PRETORIA 0834
RUEHQU/AMCONSUL QUEBEC 0424
RUMIAAA/HQ USSOUTHCOM J2 MIAMI FL
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1212
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0859
RUEHPU/USDAO PORT AU PRINCE HA
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 000459 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR
S/CRS
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR
INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA)
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ASEC HA
SUBJECT: UN'S POLICE AGREEMENT CAUSES FUROR

Classified By: CDA DOUGLAS GRIFFITHS, REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 000459

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR
S/CRS
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR
INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA)
WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ASEC HA
SUBJECT: UN'S POLICE AGREEMENT CAUSES FUROR

Classified By: CDA DOUGLAS GRIFFITHS, REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D).


1. (C) Summary. The Supplemental Agreement on Haitian
National Police (HNP) reform (SA),signed by Prime Minister
Latortue and the SRSG Valdes in New York on February 22 and
has caused a political firestorm in recent days. Haitian
objections center on clauses of the accord that could
subordinate the command and control functions of the HNP to
MINUSTAH. Neither IGOH nor HNP officials have expressed any
reservations about continued commitment to critical aspects
of international cooperation and oversight, including vetting
and training of incoming and active officers. Indeed, just
today, Justice Minister Dorleans approved the transfer of a
Haitian drug suspect to the U.S. and agreed to sign an
agreement on a Special Investigation Unit. Earlier in the
week, Dorleans strongly criticized Prime Minister Latortue
for failing to consult other IGOH officials on an agreement
that he claimed violated Haiti's sovereign rights. The
Charge and other international officials have intervened with
he President, several ministers, and the President-elect to
ensure that this controversy does not endanger the
functioning of the IGOH in its final weeks. Visiting
officials from UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations
(UNDPKO) headquarters, who had initially expected to spend
the week beginning March 3 formulating an HNP reform plan and
improving UNPOL performance, found themselves focused on
damage control related to the SA. The UN officials assured
emboffs that aspects of the agreement requiring UN
involvement in all international police cooperation would not
impact our programs. End Summary.

Controversy Erupts
--------------

2.(C) Though the UN and the IGOH concluded the agreement in
late February, because of the intervening Carnival holidays
the agreement did not attract local notice in the press until
March 3. Once aware of the document, print and radio media

characterized its effect as placing the Haitian National
Police under the control of MINUSTAH, and they again fueled
rumors that the SA is part of a larger plan to place Haiti
under UN trusteeship. The Prime Minister admitted publicly
on March 3 that he did not fully understand the implications
of what he had signed. Minister Dorleans on March 4 released
a letter to the PM claiming that parts of the SA were
unconstitutional and expressing his displeasure over lack of
consultation and coordination during negotiations.


3. (C) President Alexandre convoked a meeting on 5 March at
the palace with the Prime Minister, MOJ Dorleans, HNP DG
Andresol, and other concerned members of the government.
During the meeting, the President reportedly asked the
Minister of Foreign Affairs to communicate to the UNSG the
GOH's desire to renegotiate the agreement immediately.
Secretary of State for Public Security David Basile, who

SIPDIS
attended the palace meeting, subsequently speculated to
poloff that the President appeared ready to relieve Latortue
of his duties over this incident. Basile said that he had
never seen MOJ Dorleans in such an angry state and felt that
Dorleans wuld resign in protest. The Charge, SRSG Valdes,
nd Core Group Ambassadors are prepared to interven with
senior IGOH officials to ensure that this ncident does not
threaten the stability of the IOH or the completion of
elections and the succesful transfer of power.

Why We Fight
--------------


4. (C) Minister Dorleans's objections, subsequetly seized on
by a local media always keen to ply to nationalist
sensitivities, center on what could be perceived as a
take-over of the HNP by MINUSTAH. Article 3.3, for example,
reads in part, "The HNP leadership shall ensure that no HNP
deployment or operations are undertaken without prior
consultation and coordination with MINUSTAH..." Other
articles, including 4.2 b, stress a top-down approach to
co-ordination rather than an integrated approach to

PORT AU PR 00000459 002 OF 003


HNP-MINUSTAH cooperation.


UNDPKO on the Scene
--------------


5. (C) Visiting UNDPKO representatives Andrea Gentile and
Richard Warren on March 5 met with polcouns and poloff to
discuss USG bilateral HNP assistance and the mounting
controversy over the SA. Gentile stated that the primary
purpose of their trip was to improve UNPOL performance and
begin to formulate a reform plan for the HNP that was to
follow-on from the SA, but that they were now forced to carry
out damage-control with DG Andressol and IGOH officials.
Gentile tactfully suggested that Muir was at the root of the
problem and that he had inappropriately used the draft in
January to try to force greater cooperation out of Andresol.
He added that DPKO officials had otherwise found Muir's
performance lacking and that DPKO would have already relieved
Muir if another officer were available to replace him.
Regarding UNPOL performance overall, Gentile said that
UNPOL's Formed Police Units (FPUs) were poorly utilized and
that DPKO aimed to develop better use of the FPUs within a
newly developed HNP reform plan.


6. (C) Polcouns replied that whatever Muir's shortcomings,
the SA failed to take into account national sensitivities and
sovereignty issues, and in any case was a poor tool in
fostering HNP reform because it stressed a one-sided
imposition of UNPOL control over the HNP, instead of
establishing a mutual understanding of how UNPol-HNP
cooperation would proceed. Poloffs suggested that the
visitors concentrate on laying the groundwork for a more
practical agreement for the Preval government to consider and
to stress to their Haitian interlocutors that they should
"leave aside" the SA as they moved forward UNPOL cooperation
and HNP reform. Gentile and Warren confirmed that this would
be their strategy, and that MINUSTAH officials had given them
the same advice. Warren later confirmed to polcouns that
they had successfully convinced senior HNP officials (not
including Andresol) in subsequent meetings that they were
here to undo the damage caused by the SA and proceed with
mutual cooperation on reform.

USG Objections
--------------


7. (C) Polcouns and Poloff on March 6 formally met with
Gentile, Warren, and Muir to present the Embassy's views on
the SA. Poloffs raised objection to article 2.3, which
essentially requires MINUSTAH to approve all bilateral
cooperation with the HNP. Poloffs suggested that the U.S.
was willing to consult with MINUSTAH on matters related to
HNP assistance, but could not accept MINUSTAH authority over
our bilateral cooperation. Gentile and the others assured
poloffs that MINUSTAH did not intend to interfere with our
assistance program, and that they would take our views into
account. They were to shortly meet with Canadian officials,
and expected to receive the same objection.

Comment
--------------


8. (C) Despite UNDPKO's ham-fisted approach to the SA and the
subsequent political controversy, we see positive
developments emerging from UNDPKO's focus on UNPOL and HNP
reform, even as we note that this effort comes late in the
day, after nearly two years of MINUSTAH presence in Haiti.
Gentile and Warren exhibit a clear understanding of Haitian
sensitivities and the steps needed to move beyond the SA and
implement real improvements in HNP/UNPOL cooperation and
performance. On the Haitian side, Andresol himself has
proved himself committed to radical overhaul and reform of
the HNP, and we have no reason to believe he will not
continue to fully support critical aspects of international
oversight, especially vetting and certification of HNP
officers. Minister Dorleans approved on March 8 the

PORT AU PR 00000459 003 OF 003


rendition to the United States of another suspected drug
trafficker, the latest in a string of renditions that have
proceeded on the basis of a personal commitment between the
minister and the Embassy. End Comment.
GRIFFITHS