Cité Soleil

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Cite Soleil, 2002.

Cité-Soleil (Kreyol: Site Soley, or Sun City in English) is a very densely populated shanty town located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Despite its name, the area is generally regarded as one of the nation's poorest, roughest, and most dangerous areas; it is one of the biggest slums in the Northern Hemisphere. There is little police, no sewers, no stores, and little to no electricity.^[1] The neighborhood, originally designated to house manual labourers for a local Export Processing Zone, quickly became home to squatters from around the countryside looking for work in the newly constructed factories. After the 1991 coup d'etat that deposed President Jean Bertrand Aristide, the United States led a boycott of Haitian products, which closed the EPZ. Cite Soleil was soon thrust into extreme poverty, persistent unemployment, with high rates of illiteracy. It has become a microcosm of Haiti's endemic problems.^[1] Of the estimated 200,000 to 300,000 people living in Cité Soleil, the great majority live in extreme poverty.^[2]

1 History
2 Current status
3 See also
4 Footnotes
5 References

[edit] History

CitéSoleil is a shanty town that arose in Port-au-Prince where the inhabitants lack even basic services to make life bearable.^[3] Not only is Cité Soleil the poorest area of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere it is also becoming one of the most dangerous as armed gangs roam the streets. Murder, rape, kidnapping, pillage, and shootings are common as every few blocks is controlled by a rival armed faction, such factions said to number over thirty-two.^[4] In 1999, Cité Soleil was set on fire by a gang and at least 50 shacks burned.^[5] In 2002 the violence escalated as the gangs began warring with each other in addition to preying on ordinary people. Many inhabitants had to leave temporarily to escape the turmoil.^[6] In 2004, UN peacekeepers stormed Cité Soleil in an attempt to gain control of the area and end the anarchy.^[7] Although the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) has been deployed since 2004, it continues to struggle for control over the armed gangs and the violent confrontations continue. MINUSTAH maintains an armed checkpoint at the entrance to Cité Soleil and the road is blocked with armed vehicles.^[8] In December, 2004, a group of armed ex-soldiers occupied ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's home against the wishes of the Haitian government.^[9] In January, 2006, two Jordanian peacekeepers were killed in Cite Soleil.^[10] In October of 2006 a group of heavily armed Haitian police were able to enter Cite Soleil for the first time in three years and were able to remain one hour as armored UN troops patrolled the area. Since this is where the armed gangs take their kidnap victims, the Haitian police's ability to penetrate the area even for such a short time was seen as a sign of progress.^[11] The UN has described the human rights situation in Haiti as "catastrophic".^[12]

Sign for a Cite Soleil women's group, 2002. The sign translates, "Organization of Militant Women of Cité Soleil".

Most of the residents of Cité-Soleil are children or young adults. Few live past the age of fifty; they die from disease, including AIDS, or violence.^[1] At times Cite Soleil has been filled with armed gangs. The vast majority of residents of Cite Soleil have remained loyal to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his Lavalas movement. Unlike Haiti's unelected past governments, Lavalas governments invested money into parks, literacy programs and medical centers in Cite Soleil.^[13] Politically affiliated gangs or militias, often with quasi-official powers, have been a regular element of Haitian politics throughout the country's history.

The fighting led to widescale charges by neighborhood residents that the United Nations stabilising force has permitted conditions that led to the death of unarmed bystanders. Haiti's media outlets are monopolized by anti-Lavalas business owners and have used the violence in Cite Soleil to further demonize the party of former President Aristide. They have largely ignored the mass violence by the Haitian police, the criminal roots of the kidnapping and the undermining of Arsitide's security police force.^[14]

[edit] Current status

Since 2004 the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) has been in Haiti and it now numbers 8,000 troops but continues to struggle for control over the armed gangs. In October of 2006 a group of heavily armed Haitian police were able to enter Cite Soleil for the first time in three years and were able to remain one hour as armored UN troops patrolled the area. Since this is where the armed gangs take their kidnap victims, the Haitian police's ability to penetrate the area even for such a short time was seen as a sign of progress.^[15] The situation of continuing violence is similar in Port-au-Prince. Before Christmas in 2006 the UN force announced that it would take a tougher stance against gang members in Port-au-Prince, but since then the atmosphere there has not improved and the armed roadblocks and barbed wire barricades have not been moved. After 4 people were killed and another 6 injured in a UN operation exchange of fire with criminals in Cite Soleil in late January 2007, the United States announced that it would contribute $20 million to create jobs in Cite Soleil.^[16]^[17]

MINUSTAH maintains an armed checkpoint at the entrance to the shanty town of Cité-Soleil and the road is blocked with armed vehicles.^[1] In early February 2007, 700 UN troops flooded Cite Soleil resulting in a major gun battle. Although the troop make regular forcible entries into the area, a spokesperson said this one was the largest attempted so far by the UN troops.^[18] On July 28, 2007, Edmond Mulet, the UN Special Representative in Haiti, warned of a sharp increase in lynchings and other mob attacks in Haiti. He said MINUSTAH, the (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) which now has 9,000 troops there, will launch a campaign to remind people lynchings are a crime.^[19]

On August 2, 2007 the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon arrived in Haiti to assess the role of the UN forces, announcing that he would visit Cite Soleil during his visit. He said that it was Haiti's largest slum and as such was the most important target for U.N. peace keepers in gaining control over the armed gangs. The Haitian president Rene Preval has expressed ambivalent feelings about the UN security presence, stating “if the Haitian people were asked if they wanted the UN forces to leave they would say yes.”^[20] Survivors at times blame the UN peace keepers for deaths of relatives.^[21]