Five Months After Aristide, Mayhem Rules the Streets

As the charges and suspicions filter through the city like the sticky summer air, though, one thing is certain - mayhem is reaching ever higher levels, with murders, rapes and bus robberies becoming routine. In the five months since Mr. Aristide was driven from power, a tense inertia has spread over efforts to police this shattered society, allowing armed factions and marauders to move in. Despite the United Nations peacekeeping force of 2,300 soldiers spread across the country, and despite a surface quiet in major public places, any number of groups are vying for street control - the old guard police, the rebels, the Aristide supporters and freelance thugs. [more]