Page 195 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo II

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shoot at these rebels. Next morning Evans, the local hoodlum asked for a cease fire. A deal
was set with a Brazilian commander who offered to fix destroyed roads, build water wells
and not to arrest the rebels. The peace agreement was sealed. Next week after the shoot out
repair groups began to work. Many rebel groups abandoned the weapons and peace was fi-
nally established. With operations like this the UN troops began to get support from the local
population and from many militia men and bandits.
With patient and perseverance, dialoguing always, the rebel groups began to depose arms.
The only difficulty was to distinguish who was who in that situation. The Peace Force, with
few soldiers, could not be present everywhere in Haiti. Some 2000 soldiers stayed at the
capital, while the rest were distributed around country. Even in some small cities the former
military paratroops were the only authorities, dictating to the local population what to do.
They did not conquer power because they were not strong enough. They only filled the power
void because there was no police there. Sometimes, this odd situation disturbed the peace
process.
the principal problem was the chimiere resistance. The former Ravix rebels were a lesser
problem. The arrival of new troops allowed to regain control of small towns in the interior
of Haiti.

in search of integration
In order to help and approach the Haitian people UN forces undertook civic and social
operations in poor communities always with the full participation of local authorities. I will
describe from now on specifically the Brazilian operations together with other nations.
At the beginning of these operations President of Brazil visited the country when the
Brazilian professional soccer team faced the Haitian national team, really a show of joy and
happiness to the local population.
Community actions with local populations:
- Rebuilding schools and public offices;
- Distributing food and drinkable water;
- Promoting together with local communities athletic social and musical activities;
- Conducting medical and dental activities, with Argentinean help;
- Helping cities that suffered from natural disasters as a hurricane that struck Haiti in
September, 2004, fire fighting and burned assistance, together with other nations;
- Promoting visits of young teenagers to Brazil in an exchange program.
- Training local workers as bakers, plumbers, electricians, stoneworkers and administra-
tive and health technicians.
Working with infrastructure projects in the country together with Uruguayans, Chileans,
ecuadorians and Haitians themselves such as garbage removal, drilling water wells and pav-
ing roads.

concLusion
The Peace operations are not intended only to impose and keep peace in the disturbed
region. there will be the need to improve local populations living conditions. in Haiti the
Brazilian forces had the help of other Latin America forces, making easy the mutual un-