2A
NEWS/tRie CJarlnttE So«
Thursday, February 12, 2004
Rehels seek Ansdde^s eusier
Continued from page 1A
going change in the way
Haiti is governed, I think
that could indeed involve
changes in Aristide’s posi
tion,” a U.S. official said.
Late on Tuesday, the State
Department issued a new
travel warning on Haiti, urg
ing U.S. citizens to leave the
country if they can do so
safely. It said it had autho
rized the voluntary depar
ture of nonessential embassy
staff and family members.
A former Roman Catholic
priest once hailed as a cham
pion of Haiti’s fragile democ
racy, Aristide’s popularity
has waned since parliamen
tary elections in 2000 were
declared flawed, and as
deep-seated poverty kept the
bulk of Haitians in its grip.
The current armed revolt
began last Thursday when a
former pro-Aristide gang
drove police from the coun
try’s fourth city, Gonaives,
capping months of anti-gov-
e r n m e n t
demonstra
tions from
opponents
who accuse
Aristide of
corruption
and violence.
Prime
Minister
Y V 0 n y^ristide
Neptune,
speaking before the U.S.
comments, dismissed any
suggestion that Aristide
should fall on his sword and
said he had been democrati
cally elected.
Police don’t fight wars
The prime minister said
the 5,000-member police
force could not restore order
alone, but he was confident
the police would get support
from the populace.
Haiti does not have an
army to rely on for public
order as it was disbanded
Idea? Complaint? Compliment?
E-mail editorial@thecharlottepost.com
after Aristide was restored to
power in 1994 by a U.S.-led
invasion after having been
ousted in a military coup.
“The mission of the police
force is not to declare war, or
to go to war,” Neptune said.
“But what we know is that
with the help of the popula
tion who is opposed to terror
ism, the national police force
and the government, we will
find ways to get rid of the
terrorists,” he told Reuters
in an interview.
In addition to the large
port town of Saint Marc, 65
miles north of the capital
Port-au-Prince, retaken by
the government and armed
supporters on Monday,
police reasserted state con
trol in Grand Goave, to the
southwest.
Two Saint Marc neighbor
hoods remained under rebel
control on Tuesday, but the
rest appeared to be return
ing to normal.
Africa’s future stability tied to
women’s ability to find work
Meanwhile, government
supporters hit back else
where.
Radio Metropole said two
opposition leaders were shot
and 12 houses torched in the
northern town of Dondon,
briefly held on Monday by
anti-government gunmen.
In Cap-Haitien, a restau
rant and two banks went up
in flames after a pro-govern
ment militia attacked an
opposition neighborhood.
Several people were
detained, injured or had dis
appeared, radio stations
said.
Gunshots rang out across
the city of half a million
overnight, they added, and
gasoline supplies ran dry
after deliveries from
Gonaives were stopped by
the rebels.
In Port-au-Prince, the
National Coalition for the
Rights of Haitians said at
least five opposition mem
bers were lynched or execut
ed in the slum of Cite Soleii.
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By Nicole Itano
WOMEN'S E-NEWS
PONDOLAND, South
Africa — Half the buttons on
Nophiwa Sinquina’s skirt
have fallen off, and despite
the long distances she walks,
her shoes are only floppy
sneakers. But Sinquina, 24,
has something many young
people here, especially young
women, envy: a job.
A few times a month, the
quiet, young woman leads
visitors along South Africa’s
eastern shore as part of a
community-run tourism pro
ject. Visitors around the
world come to see the area’s
rugged beauty, but for the
people of Pondoland -named
for the rural Xhosa-speaking
Pondo people who live here -
life here is hard.
Ten years after the end of
apartheid, many villages
still have no running water
or electricity. Jobs are scarce,
families are large and AIDS
is running rampant. With
few prospects at home, many
young people still leave for
the big cities in search of
work, leaving behind house
holds of old people and chil
dren.
At play in Pondoland are a
number of demographic
trends — a youth bulge,
urban migration and scarci
ty of land and water — that
researchers at the
Washington-based
Population Action
International say may con
tribute to future civil con
flict.
A report released by the
group last month, “The
Security Demographic:
Population and Civil Conflict
after the Cold War,” argues
that much of sub-Saharan
Africa, as well as parts of the
Middle East and Asia, are at
high-risk for future civil con
flict. The report, which found
a high correlation between
demographics and conflict in
the 1990s, also identifies the
increasing toll of HIV/AIDS
as a factor that will likely
make some states more vul
nerable to civil conflict in the
future.
Researchers at Population
Action International argue
that the best way to mitigate
these factors is to improve
women’s access to education,
family planning and eco
nomic opportunities.
Programs such as the
European Union-supported
Wild Coast Trails
Community Tourism
Initiative that provide jobs
for young women such as
Sinquina can help reduce
birth rates, slow urban
migration and ultimately
reduce the risk of civil con
flict in high-risk countries
such as South Africa.
Whether single by choice
or circumstance, Sinquina’s
unmarried state would
make her a prime candidate
to be sent to the cities to find
employment, most likely as
a domestic worker, where
she would be more vulnera
ble to sexual exploitation
and AIDS.
Sinquina said her job as a
tourist guide — which gives
her just a few dollars a few
times a month - provides
enough income for basic
needs such as clothes and
soap and to contribute to her
family. And, although it is
not discussed in conserva
tive areas such as the
Eastern Cape, the income
also makes her less vulnera
ble to AIDS by reducing the
chance that she will trade
sex for food or clothes, a
major cause of the virus’
spread.
The second of 10 children,
Sinquina is the only one of
her grown sisters who is not
married and the only one
without children. Like her
sisters, Sinquina did not fin
ish high school — scarce
money to pay school fees
often get used up on boys —
but spent enough time in
school to become literate and
speak some English. Both
are remarkable skills in a
region that has among the
country’s highest poverty
rates and lowest adult litera
cy.
Like most families here,
the Stnquinas live between
the modem and traditional
economies. They keep cattle
and grow com, providing for
themselves much of what
they need. But pensions and
remittances from family
members working in the city
and mines provide cash
income to pay for school fees,
housing improvements and
smaller items such as cook
ing oU and soap they cannot
make themselves.
PUBLIC MEETING
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, Room.267
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
600 E. Fourth Street, Charlotte, NC
Current STS customers requesting transportation to this meeting may
contact STS at 704-336-2637. For more information about this meeting,
contact CATS at 704-336-RIDE or visit us online at www.ridetransit.org.
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