AYOUB Posted July 2, 2004 Brasilia: Brazil's soccer team will kick off an attempt to disarm Haiti's warring factions by playing a match where spectators will have to swap their guns for entry tickets. The Brazilian stars Ronaldo and Ronaldinho are among those who may play Haiti's national side at home in August to help Brazilian United Nations peacekeeping troops rebuild the poverty-stricken nation as it recovers from a bloody revolt. "Ronaldo insists on being there; Parreira [the national coach] insists on going," Ricardo Teixeira, president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, said on Tuesday. "All of us in Brazil have to do our bit to end the years of fighting." The guns-for-soccer diplomacy was first suggested by Haiti's interim prime minister, Gerard Latortue, who said a few Brazilian soccer idols could do more to disarm warring militias than thousands of peacekeeping troops. Football is hugely popular in Haiti and Brazil, five-times world champions, are the favourite foreign side. Years of political turmoil in the poorest nation in the Americas has sapped funding for the Haitian team. The national soccer stadium is badly run down and security concerns prompted the international soccer federation FIFA to ban official matches in the country. Rebels will be able to swap guns for tickets a week before the Brazil-Haiti game, slated for August 18, which Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hopes to attend, Mr Teixeira said. "We don't want any trouble at the game," he said. It will not be the first time Brazilians have tried to spread the "make goals, not war" message. The soccer great Pele is credited with stopping conflicts in Africa when his Brazilian club, Santos, played local teams. Rebels in the former Belgian Congo put down their weapons in 1969 when Santos visited Kinshasa and Brazzaville. Fighting resumed once the Brazilians left. Brazil has offered 1200 troops to lead the UN mission that entered Haiti in June. It hopes to attract international funds to rebuild the nation and boost Brazil's role as a regional conflict mediator. The UN mission took over from a US-led force sent to halt open warfare in the former French colony that resulted in President Jean Bertrand Aristide being ousted in February. More than 200 people were killed. Reuters -------------------------------- Somalis should host the African Nations' Cup using this system Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
