TIM PERSHING AND J.P. SLAVIN
Brazil can help Haiti get on its feetLAST WEEK Brazilian expeditionary forces took command of a United Nations mission in Haiti, another clear signal that Brazil is emerging as a global player. For Haiti, the stakes surrounding the new peacekeeping mission could not be higher.
US and French finance and expertise will be essential to Haiti's reconstruction, but the time has come to let other regional powers take the lead in the nation state. With the over extension of US military forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is in Washington's interests to accept Brazil's assistance with Haiti -- and in Brasilia's interest to launch an aggressive, and enlightened, peacekeeping policy. Despite the polemic surrounding President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's resignation, there are three strategies the Brazilian-led UN peacekeeping mission can implement now that will help ameliorate Haiti's naked misery:
As the UN deploys its forces across Haiti, they should turn on the lights as they go. Electrical power is opportunity. A refrigerator is an ice business, a TV and VCR a movie house, a street light a study hall, and an incubator a life saved. As the multinational force is associated with this basic tool of modern living, their social capital in the reconstruction of civil society will grow exponentially. Haiti's electrical grid peaks at about 200 megawatts, and the monthly cost of operating the network is approximately $2 million -- a price Washington and Paris can well afford. There is little time to waste. On a good day in Port-au-Prince, neighborhoods receive three hours of power. If you're unlucky enough to require an operation at the largest municipal hospital, you have to supply the diesel fuel to power the operating room's emergency generator -- a price that is out of reach for the estimated 75 percent of Haitians who survive on less than $1 day.
In Haiti, Brazil has the rare opportunity to succeed where others have failed. Even a limited success in Haiti will assist Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's diplomatic offensive to demonstrate that Brazil is not a only a regional power but a nation that deserves a permanent seat on a reformed UN Security Council. The international community, Haitians, and Brazilians should stand behind this effort. Haiti cannot be left to fail again. If Brazil can help Haiti find its footing, we can't be faulted for dreaming of what beautiful music might be made when bossa nova blends with compa.
Tim Pershing is a doctoral candidate in political science at Brandeis University. J.P. Slavin is a former consultant with the National Coalition for Haitian Rights. © Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
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The Brazilian-led UN peacekeeping mission must provide security. A no-nonsense start is imperative. It will fall to the Brazilians to disarm the leaders of the anti-Aristide rebels and the pro-Aristide chimere gangs. Actionable intelligence will be needed. As in Iraq, US intelligence operations in Haiti are compromised by personal relationships with duplicitous characters. The Brazilian Embassy must be beefed up to develop an independent intelligence stream.
