PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) ? Haitian President Michel Martelly on Friday launched a plan to restore the nation's armed forces, despite fears their revival could be divisive in a country bloodied by past military coups and rights abuses.
In a ceremony marking a 19th-century independence battle, Martelly apologized to past victims of the Haitian army that was abolished in 1995 by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, himself once ousted in a 1991 military coup.
Martelly, a former pop star, said Haitians would prefer to have their country protected by its own army rather than by foreign troops who have acted as peacekeepers in the impoverished Caribbean nation since 1994.
"This has been going on for 17 years and that is 17 years too much ... . This should stop and it will stop," he said, speaking in front of the presidential palace at an event attended by ministers, dignitaries and diplomats.
Martelly, elected in March on a nationalist platform pledging Haiti's renewal after a devastating earthquake last year, announced the setting up of a civil commission to prepare a road map for restoration of the military.
After consultation with various national sectors, this plan would be presented on January 1, independence day in what is the Western Hemisphere's poorest state.
Martelly's words drew applause from the crowd and shouts of "Long live the army!"
"A FULL VETTING PROCESS"
But donors and rights activists say they fear the restoration of an institution accused of past abuses could be divisive and divert resources from more pressing challenges of rebuilding after the 2010 earthquake.
"Our main concern is about what function would this military play in Haiti and who will integrate it," said Amnesty International's researcher on Haiti, Gerardo Ducos, adding it was expected former military officers would rejoin.
"We know the army in the past was involved in repression ... . We need a full vetting process," he told Reuters.
Public opinion has soured toward the more than 12,000-strong foreign U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti. Its image has been badly tarnished by recent allegations of sexual assault and accusations that Nepalese U.N. troops brought a deadly cholera outbreak to the country. More than 6,700 Haitians have died from cholera since last year.
"We've had enough of the foreign soldiers that brought cholera here, causing thousands of Haitians to die ... . That's why we need our army to replace them," said Lochard Jeremie, 25, a student whose father was an army surgeon.
Others expressed misgivings, saying attention and resources should be directed toward priorities such as providing housing for the approximately half a million quake homeless still living in tents and tarpaulin camps.
"I don't think the priority now should be restoring the army when we have so many people under tents and the government says it hasn't the money to get them out of the camps," said Port-au-Prince resident Joel Lacroix, 26.
DONORS BALKING
It was not immediately clear where the money to set up and equip an army would come from.
A draft plan foreseeing a 3,500-strong force and an initial cost of $95 million has circulated in recent weeks, along with a proposal for a national spy service.
But major western donors, which fund the U.N. peacekeeping presence in Haiti and are also shouldering the reconstruction burden after the earthquake, appear to be balking at the idea of having to finance, train and equip a reconstituted army.
Donors are already funding U.N. training of a renovated Haitian National Police, which has expanded to 10,000 members and is expected to take over when the U.N. peacekeeping mission withdraws as expected in the coming years.
Haitian officials say the police will remain the front-line law enforcement body, with the idea being that the army would only intervene in cases of national emergency.
In his speech, Martelly recalled the Haitian military was born out of the country's historic fight for freedom from French colonial rule, when a slave revolt led to the creation of the world's first independent black republic in 1804.
But he did acknowledge those who had suffered "abuse and excesses" at the hands of the army in the past.
"I come in the name of the nation to ask forgiveness," he said.
(Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Xavier Briand)
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