HAITI: INTERIM GOVERNMENT CREATES POST FOR A NEW SECRETARY OF STATE FOR PUBLIC SECURITY IN BID TO QUELL INCREASING VIOLENCE IN THE COUNTRY
Record ID:
222981
HAITI: INTERIM GOVERNMENT CREATES POST FOR A NEW SECRETARY OF STATE FOR PUBLIC SECURITY IN BID TO QUELL INCREASING VIOLENCE IN THE COUNTRY
- Title: HAITI: INTERIM GOVERNMENT CREATES POST FOR A NEW SECRETARY OF STATE FOR PUBLIC SECURITY IN BID TO QUELL INCREASING VIOLENCE IN THE COUNTRY
- Date: 22nd October 2004
- Summary: (U7) PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (OCTOBER 22, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. EXTERIOR OF NATIONAL PALACE 0.03 2. INTERIOR OF NATIONAL PALACE, PRIME MINISTER GERARD LATORTUE ARRIVING 0.09 3. HAITI'S PRESIDENT BONIFACE ALEXANDRE ENTERING PALACE 0.17 4. PAN: AUDIENCE 0.23 5. (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) HAITI'S PRESIDENT BONIFACE ALEXANDRE SAYING: "The police must double their efforts, organise themselves and infiltrate these terrorist groups and neutralise them. That is why we decided to strengthen the police by nominating a Secretary of State for Public Security." 0.54 6. AUDIENCE 0.57 7. ALEXANDRE AND LATORTUE GREETING OFFICIALS (2 SHOTS) 1.18 8. (SOUNDBITE) (Creole) NEW SECRETARY OF STATE FOR PUBLIC SECURITY, DAVID BAZILE, SAYING: "We have a lot of work to do and we are going to do it." 1.22 9. VARIOUS OF HAITIAN POLICE PATROLLING STREETS (2 SHOTS) 1.33 10. POLICE WITH ARRESTED YOUNG MAN 1.38 11. SCU: POLICE GUARDING VEHICLE 1.40 12. TRACK: POLICE WITH ARRESTED MAN 1.43 13. TRUCK PULLING AWAY WITH ARRESTED MAN 1.50 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 6th November 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
- Country: Haiti
- Reuters ID: LVA6LZ2TZ9IV31F7N2VBS6I22TMC
- Story Text: Haiti's government names new security minister in
hopes of quelling increasing violence.
Recognising the urgent need to bring violence under
control in the capital and other parts of the country, the
interim Haitian government created on Friday (October 22) a
new Secretary of State for Public Security.
"The police must double their efforts, organise
themselves or infiltrate these terrorist groups and
neutralise them. That is why we decided to strengthen the
police by nominating a Secretary of State for Public
Security," President Boniface Alexandre said during the
ceremony at the National Palace, which was attended by the
cabinet, foreign ambassadors and other guests.
The new Secretary of State for Public Security, David
Bazile, will take over responsibilities once held by
Minister and ex-Army General Herard Abraham.
Over 55 people, among them nine police officers, have
been killed in the capital since political violence erupted
on Sept. 30, the 13th anniversary of the military coup
against Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Police clashed with marchers on that day during a
demonstration to demand the return of Aristide. Authorities
have not been able to determine who fired the first shot.
The bodies of three headless policemen were later found.
Since then, the bodies of men with bullet wounds to the
head and the back are among the near daily deliveries to
the putrid-smelling city morgue, where cadavers rot because
the refrigeration unit has been unreliable for two months.
Haitian police along with some 3,000 UN peacekeepers
stationed in the country have struggled to bring order, but
not enough to satisfy diplomats. Canada and the U.S. have
advised their citizens not to visit Haiti, and the U.S.
also moved all "non-essential" embassy personnel out.
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