Newly elected President Michel Martelly had campaigned on a pledge to
revive Haiti's armed forces, demobilised by thrice former president
Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1995. Former soldiers and would-be new soldiers had
been training for the event. Half a month after his investiture, however,
Martelly had not made a move in this direction. This is at least partly because
manoeuvres by the outgoing congress have left Haiti unsure about the validity of
their last-minute amendments to the 1987 constitution.
In mid-April Martelly had said that Haiti needed ‘a modern army, with a
strong corps of military engineers, capable of responding to natural disasters.'
he also said that ‘[the UN stabilisation mission in Haiti] Minustah's presence
on Haitian territory means that there is a need to create a force capable of
keeping peace.' On 26 April, after a three-day trip to the US, he redefined his
aim as creating ‘a force to be called Haiti's territorial defence force [which
would] cost us US$10-15m, rather than the US$864m cost of Minustah.'
Lest this be seen as the result of US pressure, US ambassador to Haiti,
Kenneth Merten stated that the reinstatement of the armed forces had not been
discussed at the meeting Martelly had held in Washington with US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton. Martelly did say, though, that he had discussed the
matter on 27 April with the outgoing head of Minustah, Edmond Mulet, at a
meeting in which he had outlined his plans regarding public security.
On 5 May, in an interview granted to the Dominican newspaper El
Caribe, Martelly said, ‘It is urgent to take the necessary steps for us to
have a modern army, an army to guard our borders, the drugs trade; an army
capable of guarding our maritime boundaries, which could help in the case of
catastrophes that cause chaos [...] The time has come for the Haitians to be
able to take care of their own country.' The new military, he said, would be ‘a
small number of people.'
An organisation which claims to represent the demobilised military, the
Coordination Nationale des Militaires Démobilisés des Forces Armées d'Haïti
(Conamidh) had urged Martelly to move swiftly after this investiture on 14
May to appoint a commander-in-chief of the army so that he could proceed
to put in place his general staff. The organisation's coordinator-general,
former Sergeant David Dormé, said that he would immediately place the ‘troops'
he currently commands under the orders of the new commander, as would Conamidh's
secretary-general, Sergeant Jean Fednel Lafalaise.
Dormé suggested that new commander-in-chief should be a trained officer,
moderate and sympathetic to the needs of the officer corps and the soldiers. The
ideal candidate, he said, was Colonel Joseph Baguidy, who he presented as the
former head of the ‘unforgettable antigang service'. Baguidy is best remembered
as a head of the police's criminal investigations bureau who was once the chief
suspect in the 1987 murder of presidential candidate Yves Volele and accused of
being behind the death squads active in Port-au-Prince.
As an alternative he suggested Major Dieunord Alexandre, who as executive
secretary of the Association Militaire d'Haïti opposed President René Préval's
intention to amend the constitution to formally dissolve the armed forces.
Training for the event
Dormé, who as spokesman for a
group of ‘popular organisations, had publicly endorsed Martelly's candidacy, had
been cited in reports about the groups of former soldiers and would-be members
of a new army who had been training outside the capital [SSR-11-04].
According to Jeb Sprague, who visited the ‘Lambi 12 Grande Saline' camp
outside Port-au-Prince in March, training had been under way for more than
one-and-a-half years, and that there were others near Cap Haïtien, Jérémie,
Croix-des-Bouquets and other locations. He was told that the justice ministry
had provided them with tents, some of them from Minustah, and that they had
assurances that police chief Mario Andrésol would not interfere with them.
Sprague also heard that the camps provided security firms with personnel, and
that they were supported by members of the business élite. There were visible
signs of Duvalierist sympathies, and he heard from former soldiers expressions
of support for Martelly, ‘who has for many years held close ties with members of
the military and paramilitaries.'
The constitutional issue
The urgency mentioned by
Martelly before his investiture had not translated into any action by the end of
May. One explanation offered by officials was that he was unsure of the validity
of the amended constitution that came into effect when he was sworn in. The
amendments had been approved by the outgoing congress on 9 May, after a 20-hour
sitting, but when they were published in the official gazette, Le
Moniteur, several senators noticed that the text did not match what
congress had approved; it included provisions and language that nobody had seen
before.
An attempt was made to dismiss this as ‘errors' which could be overcome by
simply publishing the correct text in Le Moniteur, but this had not
happened up to the time of writing. Concern was aired in political circles about
major political provisions in the constitution, but at least one source,
Haïti Libre, suggested that the changes had affected the provisions
regarding the armed forces.
Contrary to widespread belief, the armed forces had never been written out of
the constitution. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide had ordered their
demobilisation in April 1995 by presidential decree, without seeking a
constitutional amendment by congress — a procedure which many jurists consider
invalid.
When congress amended the 1987 constitution in September 2009, all it did was
introduce a name change, inserting ‘army of Haiti' instead of ‘armed forces of
Haiti', but did not remove the armed forces from the constitution. After the
September 2009 vote, all that remained was ratification of the amendments by the
following legislature, which is what was meant to have happened in May this
year.
The text of the amendments published in Le Moniteur retains the old
name of Forces Armées d'Haïti. It includes nine apparent amendments to five
articles mentioning the armed forces. One of these (Art. 264) says, ‘The armed
forces of Haiti are constituted to guarantee the defence and integrity
of the territory of the Republic.' The older text said instituted; the
change is being interpreted as meant to strengthen the notion that the existence
of the military is constitutional.
The only other substantial change (Art. 267.1) is that any member of the
military intending to run for an elective post must leave the service two years
before the elections (previously only one year).
