INL/CIV DEPUTY DIRECTOR VISIT JUNE 9-12

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 000908 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR INL FOR KEVIN BROWN, ANGELIC YOUNG AND DON STOLWORTHY S/CRS INR/IAA STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR PHUM PREL HA SUBJECT: INL/CIV DEPUTY DIRECTOR VISIT JUNE 9-12 PORT AU PR 00000908 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (U) This message is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶2. (U) SUMMARY. INL/CIV Deputy Director Angelic Young visited NAS Haiti June 9-12 to confer on current programs and future plans and to visit project sites. She visited the National Police Academy and Cite Soleil and met with US, Canadian, and MINUSTAH officials resident in Haiti. End summary. ¶3. (U) INL/CIV Deputy Director Young visited Embassy Port au Prince June 9-12 to obtain a first hand impression of current programs, share ideas on future projects, review NAS funding levels, and discuss ways to improve communication and assistance to the NAS staff from Washington. She also attended the presentation by the NAS/INL Corrections Advisor on appropriate infrastructure as part of a conference on "Juvenile Delinquency in Haiti: Detention, Incarceration and Social Reinsertion," at which the U.S. Ambassador delivered opening remarks. NAS is moving forward with plans to provide upgraded recreational, educational, and dining facilities within the male juvenile facility. ¶4. (SBU) INL/CIV Deputy Director accompanied Embassy NAS and security officials into Cite Soleil to the weekly security meeting at Marche Boulos (Strongpoint 16),the site that will soon be renovated as the main police station in Cite Soleil under the Haiti Stabilization Initiative (HSI). MINUSTAH and Brazilian Battalion officials were also in attendance. NAS provided an update on construction within the facility. Interior demolition is set to begin the week of June 16-20, with full construction finished in September. Security officials noted an increase in the number of incidents involving weapons carried openly within the area and an armed encounter with police that resulted in one of the perpetrators being shot dead. All expressed their concerns about this trend and welcomed the announcement that renovation of the police station was about to begin. US officials also toured the small police station constructed within a corner of the building for the 36 Haitian National Police (HNP) officers currently assigned to Cite Soleil. The logo of the HNP is painted prominently on the side of the building, the first such evidence of a permanent police presence in the area since ¶2004. ¶5. (SBU) NAS Director, Police Advisor and INL/CIV Deputy Director visited the National Police Academy on June 11. They met with the Director, who escorted them on a walking tour of the proposed NAS instructor barracks construction site and the current construction in the cadet areas being undertaken by Canada. He thanked the US for its on-going support of the Academy, both in constructing and renovating the instructors living quarters and in equipping each cadet class since 2004. He expressed his frustration with the unsanitary conditions created in part of the Academy grounds (near the soon-to-be-completed cadet barracks) as a result of water and sewage runoff from the MINUSTAH Jordanian Formed Police Unit that occupies part of the facility. He reported that the 20th promotion of cadets should enter the Academy in early July. The last class graduated in November 2007 and he voiced his concern that the gap between classes had lengthened, primarily due to difficulties in identifying qualified cadets from the short list remaining of those recruited in 2005, and emphasized the need for new recruitment to begin very soon. Once the construction is complete, a second class of cadets, the 21st promotion, will begin, probably in September. Although no class will graduate in 2008, three classes (approx. 1600 cadets) should graduate in 2009. (Comment: MINUSTAH and donor countries remain very concerned about the inability of the HNP to train sufficient numbers of police to meet the target of 14,000 by 2011. The failure to graduate any cadets this year is a setback that SRSG Annabi is concerned may extend the timeline for MINUSTAH drawdown or departure. End comment.) PORT AU PR 00000908 002.2 OF 002 ¶6. (SBU) U.S. UN police advisors assigned to the HNP Anti-Kidnapping Unit (AKU),most of whom are retired NYPD, also met with INL and NAS to discuss the need for additional support to this unit. They voiced their frustration with the lack of resources and support afforded to that unit by the HNP in spite of lip service paid to the high priority of halting the recent wave of kidnappings. They pointed out that the AKU is understaffed and yet maintains an extraordinarily good record of safe return of victims in spite of having no HNP supplied vehicles, no logistical support, and no technical equipment. They also emphasized the need for attention to the case management process as a key stumbling block to further progress on this critical issue. They urged the U.S. to provide additional opportunities for acquiring specialized equipment, field mentoring by professionals experienced in anti-kidnapping, and continued training whenever available. NAS has provided some support to the unit in the past and agreed to look into ways to increase that support in the near future. ¶7. This cable has been cleared by INL/CIV Deputy Director Young. SANDERSON