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UN envoys to tour Haiti in show of global support
12 Apr 2005 18:12:29 GMT
Source: Reuters
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By Irwin Arieff UNITED NATIONS, April 12 (Reuters) - U.N. Security Council ambassadors travel to Haiti on Wednesday to demonstrate the world's commitment to helping the impoverished Caribbean nation but also their concern over the slow pace of progress to date. More than a year after the council gave its blessing to a new interim government to succeed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, gangs still wage gunbattles in the streets, the economy remains in shambles, food is in short supply and the police are accused of human rights abuses. Armed lawlessness and instability threaten to delay presidential elections due in November, Haiti's electoral agency said this week. With at least 650 people estimated to have been killed in gunbattles since September, a U.N. peacekeeping mission with 6,000 troops and 1,600 civilian police officers has turned more aggressive in recent weeks, cracking down on gangs and reclaiming small-town police stations occupied by gunmen. Haitian and U.N. police last weekend killed a former military commander, Remissainthe Ravix, who helped oust Aristide but later turned on the interim government, and an allied gang leader, Jean Anthony Rene. But Haiti's U.N. mission is unlike any other. Rather than help implement a peace accord or keep two sides apart to prevent war, it was deployed to help stabilize the country and support a transitional government after major powers led by the United States persuaded Aristide to step down in February 2004 and live in exile in South Africa. 'ILLEGAL REGIME?' "Since the February 29th coup d'etat against the democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, poverty has reached the worst levels," Aristide's Lavalas Family party said in a recent statement, urging the U.N. council to help restore him to power. "The illegitimate and illegal regime imposed after February 29th has done nothing," it said. "Repression in Haiti has reached unthinkable and inhuman levels." A top priority of the 15 visiting council envoys during their four-day stay beginning on Wednesday is to impress on all sides the importance of free and fair elections this year. That will enable a planned Feb. 6, 2006, transfer of power to elected officials from the interim government that has become badly bogged down, council diplomats said. Another objective is to demonstrate the council's long-term commitment to improving Haiti's future, the diplomats added. The current U.N. mission is the world body's third in Haiti and "our concern is not to fail this time," said Brazilian Ambassador Ronaldo Sardenberg, who is leading the council trip, its first to a Latin American or Caribbean nation. Haiti could self-destruct if the international community fails to meet its commitments there this time, he warned. "The situation is dire." "So much of what is happening in Haiti is simply unacceptable. But there is a real sense of urgency, both in alleviating the short-term suffering of the people and their long-term development needs," said Abby Maxman, who heads the operations of international relief group CARE in Haiti. "We all have to do something, and it has to be serious and sustained," said Maxman, whose organization has been active in Haiti for four decades and has nearly 550 staffers there.
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