Haitian presidential hopeful decries gap between rich and poor
1/23/06
PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) -- Haiti's elites must do more to help the poor, the frontrunner in Haiti's presidential race told AFP in an interview.
"If those who have, begin to invest in the education of the weakest among us, they would be grateful," said former president Rene Preval, who leads opinion polls ahead of the February 7 election.
"Children must be taken off the streets.
Weapons must be taken from the hands of children and replaced with pens and books," he said late on Friday.
"That is how we will harmonize relations between rich and poor."
Cite Soleil, a sprawling slum in the capital that is controlled by armed groups, represents the failure of the country's elites, he said.
"We must realize it," he said.
"The rich are cloistered in their walled villas and the poor are crammed into slums and own nothing.
The gap is too big," he said.
Preval opposed a military solution to the problems posed by Cite Soleil, the source of much of Haiti's ongoing insecurity.
"I am against a military solution to this problem," he said in an interview late Friday, proposing dialogue, "intelligence and firmness" instead.
Preval called for judicial reform, the expansion of Haiti's 4, 000-strong police force and for the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) to remain in place until Haitians can ensure stability themselves.
"Those that want to create instability in the country and to continue drug trafficking will be the first to demand MINUSTAH's departure.
They will wave the flag to demand that they go," he said.
"I'm not going to take a falsely nationalist stance.
MINUSTAH should leave as soon as possible, but when we ourselves are ready to assume responsibility for security," he said.
Preval was Haiti's president from 1996-2001 and served as prime minister for former president Jean Bertrand Aristide in 1991.
MINUSTAH has faced mounting criticism in recent weeks over its attempts to establish order in the country.
Nine soldiers in the UN force, four of them Jordanians, have been killed since it was deployed in June 2004, four months after Aristide fled a popular uprising.
On top of increasing violence, uncertainty in the poorest nation in the Americas has mounted as the long-awaited election to find a replacement for Aristide has been postponed four times.
