VZCZCXYZ0006
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPU #0068/01 0202302
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 202302Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0235
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0044
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000068 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC EFIN PGOV SNAR SOCI KPKO KJUS XL HA
SUBJECT: Haiti Post-Quake INL/NAS Assistance for MINUSTAH, HNP and 
Corrections 
 
¶1. This message is sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
 
 
¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY: NAS Port-au-Prince, in conjunction with DEA, FBI, 
and other USG agencies, has stepped up advisory, logistical, and 
material support to GOH security institutions since the January 12 
earthquake.   Although short-staffed due to the departure of the 
injured senior Police Advisor and the absence of any FSN staff, NAS 
continues to coordinate with key-stakeholders to ensure that 
Haitian National Police (HNP) and GOH corrections maintain 
organizational and operational effectiveness.  Embassy now requests 
additional support for the U.S. police contingent of the United 
Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), the HNP, and the 
Directorate of Prison Administration (DAP). END SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
MINUSTAH 
 
¶3. (U) Port-au-Prince NAS Director met with MINUSTAH Acting Deputy 
Police Commissioner for Development Richard Warren on January 17 to 
discuss MINUSTAH's needs and to coordinate support to the HNP. 
MINUSTAH lost much of its civilian, military and police leadership 
in the earthquake.  Many of these individuals were in the Hotel 
Christophe HQ complex and were killed or injured when the building 
collapsed.  Additionally, Villa Privee, the MINUSTAH Police 
headquarters also collapsed, killing or injuring many others in the 
UNPOL leadership. NAS Port-au-Prince immediately liaised with the 
U.S. United Nations Police (US UNPOL) contingent to coordinate 
rescue activity. 
 
 
 
¶4. (U) MINUSTAH, including the US UNPOL officers, has relocated 
operations to the UN Logistics Base (LogBase) in the Tabarre area. 
Of the 44 US UNPOLs in the Contingent, 35 are in the Port-au-Prince 
operational area and the rest are spread throughout the country. 
 
Roughly half those in Port-au-Prince, 18 US UNPOLs, were left 
homeless by the quake.  Some are living at LogBase, some at the HNP 
Academy, and others at various apartments and guest houses in or 
near Petion-ville. 
 
 
 
¶5. (U) MINUSTAH is finding it difficult to provide basic logistical 
support, shelter, and food to its personnel.  PAE, the contractor 
responsible for the logistical needs of the US UNPOLS, has had 
operations crippled due to the injury and evacuation of its 
management personnel. 
 
 
 
¶6.  (U) Richard Warren noted that US UNPOLs in the medium term may 
need assistance with an operational base - perhaps on the open 
field near to the Embassy - and with semi-permanent shelter. NAS 
will monitor that situation and make formal requests as 
appropriate. 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U) URGENT REQUEST:  NAS has a received a request from US 
UNPOLs for a minimum of 1,000 MREs and water to sustain personnel 
for one-two weeks until the food and water situation in Haiti can 
be re-assessed.  Embassy asks that INL take appropriate measures to 
meet this request soonest. 
 
 
 
HNP 
 
 
 
¶8. (U) The HNP is currently operating at about 40% of its personnel 
strength. As of January 19, an estimated 1700-1900 of the 
4500-person force in Port-au-Prince had returned to work.  HNP 
headquarters, including Director General Mario Andresol's offices, 
were destroyed in the quake as were several commissariats and 
support facilities.  The HNP high command is operating out of the 
HNP SWAT base in the Tabarre area adjacent to the UN Logbase.  The 
HNP Academy remains largely intact and is usable as a base of 
operation.  The Haitian Parliament convened its first meeting since 
the quake at the Police Academy. 
 
 
 
¶9. (U) Embassy is already providing command and control advice and 
mentoring to DG Andresol via DEA Attache Darrel Paskett and FBI 
Attache George Quinlan.  NAS advisors Joe Tassy and Ludger Kpanou 
(himself injured in the quake but now out of hospital) continue to 
render managerial, morale, and logistical support to HNP DG and 
other key commanders.  As of January 17, HNP leadership met and 
drafted an action plan giving regional and sectoral taskings to 
police units. 
 
 
 
¶10. (U) The HNP, working with MINUSTAH, has prepared a list of 
logistical requirements and requests for assistance which was sent 
in separate channels.  NAS Port-au-Prince will follow up with 
MINUSTAH as requests are met, and determine whether to request 
reprogramming of funds in order to fill any gaps. 
 
 
 
¶11. (U) Over the past week, NAS Port-au-Prince has provided HNP the 
following out of available stocks: solar panel battery charging 
stations for police radios; 50 shotguns with ammunition; 10 white 
smoke launchers with 50 canisters each for crowd control; 84 HNP 
uniform shirts; 906 BDU Trousers; 700 utility caps; 358 pairs of 
boots; and 5250 flexicuffs.  Embassy also has provided 4800 MREs 
and water. 
 
 
 
¶12. (U) URGENT REQUEST:  HNP has requested 5000 MREs per day for 
the next week and SOUTHCOM is prepared to meet this request in 
extremis for a day or two.  Future allocations, however, will 
require funding from INL. Embassy also requests INL assistance with 
providing the following:  500 Motorola radios and batteries, radio 
repeater and technical support; 2000 gallons diesel fuel for HNP 
vehicles; 9,000 uniforms for HNP; medication and first aid kits; 
and rubber gloves, masks, body bags; maglite flashlights and D cell 
batteries; helmets, shields and other riot gear. 
 
 
 
¶13. (U) In order to promote the rule of law in Haiti, the HNP needs 
to project a sense of institutional stability and normalcy, both to 
its personnel and to the general population.  As top priority, HNP 
needs retain those on the job now and to put back to work as many 
HNP officers as possible. Embassy's strong view is that HNP must 
meet its payroll, estimated at USD 4 million, in January and in 
subsequent months.  A regular paycheck will draw police officers 
back to work, and they in turn will provide a badly-needed security 
presence. 
 
 
 
¶14. (U) URGENT REQUEST: Embassy requests that INL explore 
appropriate mechanisms for covering the HNP's January payroll out 
of NAS program funds.  In conjunction with MINUSTAH, we will work 
with the GOH to find appropriate solutions to their payroll issue 
in the longer-term.  Embassy and MINUSTAH will recommend that the 
GOH/HNP engage in a public information campaign to ensure that 
police officers know they will be paid on time and to urge them to 
return to work. 
 
 
 
CORRECTIONS 
 
 
 
¶15. (U) NAS-Haiti Director Platt met with Director of Prison 
Administration (DAP) Jean-Roland Celestin on January 18.  Celestin 
oversees some 400 administrative staff and 718 correction officers. 
He candidly acknowledged that at the National Penitentiary and at 
other facilities, prison guards abandoned their posts during the 
earthquake, thus allowing prisoners to escape.  Celestin estimated 
that about 15% of his corrections staff have returned to work. 
Although DAP has yet to take an official count, the vast majority 
of Haiti's 8732 inmate population is now out on the streets and 
many of them are armed and dangerous.  US UNPOL Corrections Advisor 
Francois Davos, who works closely with Celestin, reported that in 
several cases, prisoners broke into weapons storage areas and 
helped themselves to firearms as they fled. Davos is investigating 
to determine the number and kinds of weapons that were taken. 
 
 
 
¶16.  (U) Aside from his concerns about feeding and hydrating his 
400 administrative and 718 correctional staff, DAP Director 
Celestin's top priority was a technical engineering team to assess 
five sites in and around the Port-au-Prince area.  Parts of the 
National Penitentiary may be structurally viable and able to hold 
several hundred inmates; the "Titanic" cell block, isolation ward 
and infirmary appear to have sustained minimal damage but a full 
engineering assessment needs to be conducted. 
 
 
 
¶17. (U) URGENT REQUESTS:  Embassy requests INL assistance with 
providing food and water for 1118 DAP staff for one-two weeks.  In 
addition, Embassy asks that INL send a small team soonest to 
conduct engineering and technical surveys on these sites: Delmas 
33, Petion-ville Women's Prison, National Penitentiary, Carrefour 
and Archaies. [N.b., given the lack of hotels and housing, and the 
hundreds of TDYers living inside the Chancery and on the grounds of 
the compound, INL TDY team should come with sleeping bags and 
towels, and be prepared to bed down on the floor and to shower in 
the gym.]  Finally, this disaster also exposes the inadequacies of 
the DAP's internal communications systems.  DAP is part of the HNP 
radio network, but the need to round up and transport larger 
numbers of prisoners for the foreseeable future will require a more 
robust radio capacity including another repeater - for which the 
additional repeater in the HNP request may suffice -- and a 
dedicated radio frequency on the HNP network. 
 
 
 
¶18. (U) OTHER REQUESTS:  DAP administrative and corrections 
personnel will need to be drawn back to work or new ones recruited. 
Meanwhile, augmenting the US UNPOL force with Creole speakers who 
have corrections experience would help meet tactical operational 
needs for officers to detain escaped inmates, and strategic goals 
of mentoring and capacity-building.  Embassy recommends that INL 
use all available means to recruit experienced Creole-speaking 
corrections officers to augment the US UNPOL contingent.  DAP 
Director Celestin also requested the following equipment items for 
718 corrections officers: duty belts with belt keepers; 
flashlights; flexi-cuffs, and flexi-cuff cutters; handcuffs; police 
whistles; and leg shackles. Embassy recommends that, to the extent 
possible, INL, provide this equipment through appropriate program 
funds. 
 
 
 
¶19.  (SBU) Celestin also requested ASP collapsible batons and 
pepper spray.  Embassy does not believe that these requests should 
be filled, given concerns about adequacy of training in use of 
these non-lethal weapons and issues with Leahy vetting of GOH 
corrections officers. 
MERTEN