DEMOBILZED MILITARY FORCES INCREASE NUMBERS, CONTINUE TO TRAIN
(Defend Haiti) - March 13th
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Former military bases are still occupied and men in military fatigues continue to train. According to reports, far from preparing to depart, their numbers would be even be stronger.
At 4 days of the expiry of 15 days given by Thierry Mayard-Paul, the Minister of Interior and Local Authorities of National Defense, the some armed men and other former demobized soldiers of the Armed Forces of Haiti (FAd'H) do not disarm and leave illegally occupied places, nothing has changed.
The former Sergeant Joseph Jean Baptiste, national spokesperson of the remobilized military, stated that the Head of State has ordered the soldiers to "stop going around in military fatigues with arms."
"We must obey him. We have stopped going around in military fatigues and armed, but we don’t have to go home because we are already there. The boot camp is our home," he said.
The occupants said they were in their right to be where they are, and even some young people consider themselves as the first elements of the new armed force to come.
Furthermore, they believe that when President Martelly calls for a retreat from the camps, he is under pressure from some members of his entourage, who are hostile to the remobilization of the Haitian army.
Despite a Senate resolution calling on the authorities to evacuate the illegal training camps, despite the appeal of Mariano Fernandez, Head of MINUSTAH, who had recently asked the Haitian authorities to move from words to action and despite the meeting of the Head of State with MINUSTAH on this issue, nothing has been done.
Many wonder today what force could dislodge these men in fatigues who are far better armed than the National Police.
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