Vladimir Platonow          Reporter Agência Brasil

Rio de Janeiro – Conflict resolution is not the strong suit of soldiers in the Brazilian army, says Jorge da Silva, a political scientist, who is also an Army reserve colonel with experience in the Military Police and as a state secretary for Human Rights (2003-06). That is the reason, he says, that prolonged duty in Rio de Janeiro slums, as part of the government program to take the slums back from drug lords, known as UPPs, is doing harm to the Army’s image.

According to Silva, there will serious problems between local residents and soldiers. The Army, Silva points out, was called up to take part in the UPP in a mission that was supposed to end this year, but has now been extended to June 2012.

Silva says he is skeptical about the real value of soldiers in slums. Born and raised in the area known as Complexo do Alemão where soldiers and inhabitants had misunderstandings last week that turned into open conflict and then riots, Silva says soldiers are simply not trained for mediation.

“Mediation is not the job of the Army. Sending troops into a situation like this is only going to compromise the authority of the troops and tarnish the image of the Army as an institution. What they are being asked to do in just not in the nature of soldiers,” said the former secretary who is now a professor of public order, police and human rights at the Rio de Janeiro State University (“Uerj”).

“The key to pacification of communities is mediation. The Military Police should do this job, but they see themselves as a military force. Up there in the Complexo do Alemão, the task is to mediate and administer conflicts. When you think of the Army you think in terms of war where the logic is to settle matters with force. The police cannot operate under those terms. Rather than a military model, they must follow a mediation model.”

Jorge da Silva says he is not happy with soldiers from the Armed Forces in slum areas because they are not trained for that kind of work. “Police are not soldiers. Soldiers are not police. When you try to turn a soldier into a policeman, it will turn out wrong. That is what is happening,” he concluded.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The News in English

Link - Permanência no Complexo do Alemão pode desgastar Exército, diz ex-secretário