Tambou Lapè, a positive way out of armed violence

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A historical and cultural neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Bel-Air, experienced a period of prosperity up to the year of 1940. Tough, with the demographic explosion of the last few years, the neighborhood and its surroundings were invaded by precarious dwellings and the street commerce, starting a process of bidonvilization.*

The problems acquired a political dimension in 2004. Bel-Air became a zone of anarchy, where the political confrontations made many victims, not sparing churches and schools. An enclave, where the gangs fought an armed war without any respect for the population, taken as hostage. According to the census made by Viva Rio¹, 40% of the population ran away from Bel-Air during this period of disturbing conflicts². The demographic pyramid of the neighborhood, in early 2007, shows that the families withdrew their children from there during the violent periods. A second research, made in December 2007, showed that more then 2/3 of the children removed by their parents had already returned.

In Haiti, just like in other countries, teenagers and youngsters are the main risk group of urban violence. They are more exposed to external risks (against the biological risks). The children are usually controlled by the adults. Those, on the contrary, have responsibilities that drive them away from situation of risk. The teenagers and the youngsters are more aggressive and victimized in violent contexts. On the other side, the youth have the energy to, eventually, shake the society in difficult situations. The interaction between security and the youngsters’ network is, consequently, crucial for Viva Rio’s project.

Informally organized, the youth in Haiti has a considerably influence in the area of the poor neighborhood.

Above all, this is true to Bel-Air and its surroundings, very known by its powerful and active street culture. After the conflicts, the project identified fourteen places, arranged in five rival zones: Fort National, Bel-Air itself, Delmas 2, Solino, La Saline/Fortouron.

Given the context, the pacification should include these five nearby zones. To build and keep the peace, the opposite parts must be all included. Besides the territorial definition, other items need to be considered. The bases denominations represent complexes groups that combine, at least, four different contents³:

      - Local command – In fact, they build a communitarian command, not elected but recognized as an organized base from the local society. In fact, they are usually called base (a nomenclature originally from the Liberation Theology speech in the 1980’s).

      - The Political Activism – They are the heirs of the time of Aristide⁴, who has given them great power, to the point of supplying guns to some base. These groups are very sensitive to the politics so they expect to get benefits from it.

      - The Cultural Expression – Each place have one or many street groups that practice together a traditional style of singing and dancing, called RARA. A RARA group may have an average of 50 regular participants (men and women)

      - Criminal Activity – They are the groups with parallel power, with a recent history of armed violence.

These four contents cross into each other in a dynamic way. Usually, the members are associated with one dimension better then the others. However, they form the complex profile of the base.

I Tambou Lapè

The project, called Tambou Lapè⁵, wants to reduce the communitarian violence and to manage the conflicts in the intervention zone of Viva Rio, as mentioned above. In May 2007, a first peace agreement was signed among the rival bases of Delmas 2, Bel-Air, Solino, La Saline/Fortouron. The signature took place at the Commission for National Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration (CNDDR) itself, in the presence of the Commission’s President, Alix Fils Aimé; the director of Viva Rio, Rubem Cesar Fernandes; the leaders of the four rival zones of Bel-Air and a great number of journalists. The terms of the agreement are the following:

1) After a month without any violent death due to conflicts between the bases or with the Haitian authorities, three study scholarships will be granted for children and teenagers of each area. The raffle is used as an instrument of assortment. If a violent death case occurs, the raffle is suspended for the current month.

2) After two months without any violent death, one professional study scholarship is granted to the youngsters from the RARA groups of each area. The given courses are the following: French, English, Music (percussion instruments, electric guitar and electric piano) Handcraft, Poetry and Cultural Events Production.

3) Every two months Viva Rio produces cultural events in one of the four zones of the neighborhood. The youngsters graduated by the program are responsible for those events

4) Every month without any violent death, for any reason it might be, general or personal, a prize is given, randomly, to the bases leaders, recognizing their progress made for the security of Greater Bel-Air.

Each month, meetings are arranged for the National Police of Haiti with the NCDDR, the Brazilian Battalion (BRABAT), Viva Rio and also the Brazilian militaries. The main purpose of the meeting is the community safety and the identification of the violent deaths, including by bullet.

II Tambou Lapè

An increase of tension was registered in January 2008, regarding the safety of Bel-Air, due to the release of ex-prisoners who went back home. One of them, called Ti Dj, was murdered by hardliners⁶ local leaders, who felt threatened by his return. In February, the tension continued to increase, especially during carnival, on the market zone, in the Lower Bel-Air and in Bel-Air itself. After the peace agreement was signed, there weren’t any death registers between May and December 2007. On the contrary, in January, five murders were registered, because of violent disputes.

A repressive answer from the militaries controlled the situation, but the members of the hardliners were against the communitarian leader of Viva Rio, accusing him of alerting the militaries, so they threatened him with death. The Brazilian Ministry of Human Rights was in Haiti and it created an opportunity for a meeting between Viva Rio and all the local communitarian leaders, including the most radicals.

The presence of BRABAT’s commandants brought political importance to the meeting. Viva Rio opened up a space in which the local leaders could formally complain about the Brazilian militaries, in the presence of the officials, the Ambassador and the Brazilian Ministry of Human Rights. This is a positive experience on conflict management. The leaders were glad for having opportunities to express themselves and the militaries are willing to reduce the pressure on the community.

A second Tambou Lapè Peace Agreement was signed on May, the 15^th, 2008 by fourteen leaders in the NCDDR before the president, the members of the Communitarian Violence Reduction program in the United nations Mission for the Stability of Haiti (MINUSTAH), Viva Rio’s director, the Brazilian ambassador, representatives of Canadian and Norwegian Foreign Relations Ministries and the Agency for International Cooperation and Development (ACDI). Many innovations were incorporated to the rules of the first agreement, such as the inclusion of two other zones (Fort National and Corridor Bastia) and the communitarian leaders’ responsibility enlargement, as to the maintenance of security. The celebration of this II Peace Agreement took place in Saline, with the participation of rivals RARA’s groups.

The zone was, therefore, extended from eleven to fourteen bases. The stimuli provided by the scholarships also increased, with the enlargement to 14 classic studies scholarships for children and professional scholarships for 14 musicians in the RARA groups. The benefit of the classic studies and professional scholarships is tied to the absence of violent deaths caused by micro-political conflicts (between bases or between bases and State forces). A new stimulus is proposed to the community leaders: an award for a motorbike worth US$ 1,000 is drawn in case of no violent death. The Community Leaders are considered to be co-responsible for the maintenance of a peaceful environment in the local society.

Always aiming towards the strengthening of community security and youth inclusion, the project promotes Hip Hop competitions between rival communities. One of those was organized to include many public events, exploring subjects such as gender violence and AIDS. More than 100 groups participated, coming from different Port-au-Prince neighborhoods that were considered to be ‘violent’ (Cité Soleil, Martissant, “Bidonvilles” in Pétion Ville and more). The top 15 groups had the chance to record a CD, which is played in radio programs. A series of school concerts is planned for the beginning of the classes in order to strengthen the AIDS prevention campaign. Condoms are handed out at these events. The Hip Hop circle in these “red neighborhoods” is associated with juvenile violence and this initiative shows that the street culture work should continue to include these groups.

This project allows artists not only to go from the underground level to an amateur one, but also works as to intensify the economic and structural capabilities of the group, strengthening the national institutions of rap kreyol (Rap Forum and Koze Kreyol) and helping them to bond with professional rap groups, which also adds value to the group’s zone. Moreover, the projects enable them to capture the attention of Haitian youth towards messages of non-violence and prevention of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

III Tambou Lapè

One year later, on May, the 16^th, 2009, the Third Peace Agreement was signed. The project’s team evaluated and reanalyzed the terms of the Agreement. This evaluation was done with the school directors, the parents of children who received the scholarship, the RARA musicians who received the professional scholarships, the community leaders and the project’s different financial partners.

In light of the experience from 2007 to 2009, it was noticed that the community leaders were a group of men only. To this new agreement, women started to be identified as community leaders as well. Besides, the sons and daughters of the communitarian leaders were also given the classic studies scholarship. And, as good news, the project began to offer education to the community leaders, the “contact agents” and the members of the NCDDR’s secretariat forum in areas such as computering, languages (Creole, French and English), report writing techniques and conflict management; all in Kay Nou.

Besides, after another evaluation of the Tambou Lapè project with the school directors and parents of children who were given the classical studies scholarship, a very weak participation of such target groups was noticed. For this reason, it was proposed that they formed a school committee in charge of building the children’s, the parents’ and the directors’ awareness about themes such as “peaceful conflict resolution”, “hygiene”, “health”, etc.

Finally, an evaluation regarding the security situation in the great Bel-Air was made, with the goal of presenting the zone as “green” in comparison to the security picture of the Haitian government and the international community in Haiti . Later, a campaign to make the great Bel-Air into a “green” zone was released on May 1st, 2009, with two branches: i) ecologically, with the creation of a plant co-op to the reforestation of Bel-Air, ii) in the security issue, with a petition signed by more than 20.000 habitants for a green Bel-Air.

Some improvement, but much remains to be done

It will be necessary to review and work on certain weaknesses in the project, such as the lack of follow-up with the victims, the identification criteria for a communitarian leader and the very fact that the agreement rests on violent deaths only, what makes sanctioning impossible.

Despite it all, after two years, the change in Bel-Air’s situation is remarkable. There are no more conflicts between the zones. Violence is now translated into other forms such as abuse, domestic violence against women and lynching. Small violent groups remain organized around criminal acts.

The participation of different layers of the community in the fight against violence (school directors, the Church, families and RARA groups), the integration of forces of order in the community and the strengthening of the political part of the communitarian leaders are proofs to the Tambou Lapè positive impact in Bel-Air. Finally, during the manifestations in April, 2008⁸ , the Bel-Air community showed great maturity and zone control, unlike other neighborhoods like Martissant, Pétion Ville, where an atmosphere of insecurity was dominant.

Translation: Gabriela Dutra. Revision: Bruno Lobo Motta.

* (Web access in 07/26/2009) Bidonvilles, originally in French. The Haitian sociologist Gerrad Pierre Charles defines it as “the degradation of the urban tissue and unrestrained growth”.
1 See www.haitiici.com or http://blog.comunidadesegura.org/haitiici/recensement-de-bel-air-2007/; http//www.comunidadeseguracom/fr/node/42434
2 74.3% of the people interviewed on the census asserted that had always lived there.
3 FERNANDES, Rubem César. Honor and Respect for Bel-Air Youth, Street Culture and Peace Accord, 2009.
4 The former President of the Republic of Haiti in 1991, from 1994 to 1996, and finally from 2001 to 2004 , before his leaving into exile
5 The Tambou (Tambou in Creole language) is an instrument played in Haiti for the. From this is the project’s name: Tambou of Peace or Tambou Lape.
6 “Hardliners” is an heiress base from the time of Aristide, but it focus itself at the illegal activities above all.
7 Bel-Air was always considered to be a “red” zone by the MINUSTAH, which means it was thought to be violent. United Nations’ staff can only get in with armoured cars or under military protection. Cité Soleil, on the other hand, is considered to be a “yellow” zone.
8 Manifestations known as the “hunger riot” that occurred right after the elevation of food prices. The riots against the scarcity of life exploded all over Haiti. The final score was six deaths and hundreds of wounded and the fall of Alexis’ government.

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