ARTICLE - FAD'H LEAVE FRESCINEAU BARRACKS

THE OCCUPANTS OF THE FORMER FRESCINEAU BARRACKS, LEAVE THE PREMISES PEACEFULLY
(Haiti Libre) -

About fifty individuals in camouflage uniforms, some armed, claiming to be from the former FAd'H (Armed Forces of Haiti) briefly occupied last Sunday, the former barracks of Frescineau at the southern entrance of Saint-Marc.

Following a police operation conducted in the presence of Mayor Rony Jean Eugene, the occupants finally agreed on Monday evening, to leave the former barracks peacefully, without resistance. "We did not have the will to fight. The military did not give up, we have just withdrawn," declared on a local radio station, after leaving the scene, Sergeant Pierre Emmanuel Féné, one of the few military present in the midst of a majority of youth in fatigues, adding that he will gather his men in another location.

It was simply a question of explaining to these people, that they occupied this place illegally, said the Mayor, regarding the mission of the police intervention.

Tuesday, Michel Brunache, the Minister of Justice and Public Security, in a statement, provided an update on the situation of these individuals who still occupy old barracks on Haitian territory, despite repeated requests to disarm and leave the premises they occupy illegally.

"[...] It is the vocabulary that is causing problems. These are young people, who are wearing camouflage, and do exercises; and all the press calls them military... For me, this is the problem [...]

These are young people with camouflage uniforms who exercise in camps that they occupy illegally, who are in contravention of the law; but the government has decided to use dialogue in negotiations with them. Most of theme are not military, nor former military. They have never received military training in their lives. They may be young people who aspire to participate in a military training, but for now, these are not soldiers.

We dialogue with them, because they are Haitian, because the government would not want there to be any problem with Haitians. That is why, for the moment, we favor dialogue. But dialogue does not mean that we are not determined. It is a dialogue with great determination, the determination to end this anarchic situation within the law.

I am someone who is naturally optimistic, so I think that everyone will eventually listen to reason, so that all things return to normal..."