Haiti

(Quelle: UN News) Citing “significant challenges” for Haiti’s Government, the United Nations Secretary-General has recommended extending the world body’s mission in the impoverished country for a further 12 months until February 2008. The report by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan … covers the work of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) for five months until December 2006, including its logistical and security assistance for last month’s elections.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Four Haitians were killed during voting in municipal elections Sunday, while UN peacekeepers fired tear gas to quell a disturbance at one polling station. The voting for mayors and local representatives showed a weak turnout amid a handful of disruptive incidents, mainly scuffles between Haitians and local authorities, according to reports and AFP reporters, but officials were pleased. … The elections will complete a series of polls that began last February, when Haitians elected Preval as president.

(Quelle: UN News) The United Nations Assistance Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) today expressed satisfaction with the conduct of elections in the country while voicing concern at isolated outbreaks of violence. … The Mission's 6,500-plus troops and 1,700 police were tasked with providing security and logistic support throughout the country, including distributing election material to some 9,200 polling stations.

(Quelle: UN News) The United Nations Assistance Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) will assist the country’s authorities to ensure peaceful run of municipal and local elections slated to start this Sunday, when Haitians go to polls to elect representatives and finish a number of legislative run-off elections. “The Mission’s principal tasks on this occasion are to provide security and logistic support throughout the country, including distributing election material to some 9,200 polling stations,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told the press in New York.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Six months after President Rene Preval took office, little is changed in Haiti -- gangs control parts of the capital, the economy is moribund and officials accused of corruption run government offices. Half a year is a blink of the eye in politics, especially for a government starved of funds and facing perhaps insurmountable problems in the hemisphere's poorest country. But some Haitians already complain that the man elected to bring change has not built roads, freed political prisoners or ousted officials suspected of rights abuses and corruption.

(Quelle: UN News) Two Jordanian soldiers serving with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) have died from injuries they suffered after being shot at by armed individuals. The incident took place on Friday evening near the Port-au-Prince airport. One of the two blue helmets died on the way to the hospital while the other took his last breath upon arrival, MINUSTAH said.

(Quelle: BBC) Haiti has been ranked as the most corrupt country in the World by Transparency International (TI), followed by Burma and Iraq.

(Quelle: New York Times) A judge said Friday that he had ordered a top Haitian police chief arrested on suspicion of conspiring with kidnappers. Judge Napela Saintil said a warrant for the arrest of the chief, Inspector General Michael Lucius, was now in the hands of a prosecutor because he had ignored a summons. Mr. Lucius, barred from leaving Haiti, is in charge of units fighting organized crime and is the lead officer in the fight against kidnapping, drugs and gangs. He has denied accusations of having ties to kidnappers.

(Quelle: International Crisis Group) Security is the core challenge for new President René Préval and the UN peacekeeping mission (MINUSTAH). Violence and impunity, rooted in the state’s weakness, are pervasive, especially in Port-au-Prince. … Armed gangs and criminals, including elements of the Haitian National Police (HNP), perpetrate the violence but it is also fostered by the worst poverty in the Western Hemisphere. Dismantling the gangs and pursuing serious police reform are critical to every broader goal of the new administration, from education reform, infrastructure, private sector investment, jobs and agriculture to governance.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Three Haitian gang members surrendered their guns to Brazilian peacekeepers on Monday, the first handover of weapons in a UN-led effort to disarm hundreds of militants in the country, said reports from Port-au-Prince, capital of Haiti. The handover took place at a ceremony in the gritty Port-au-Prince slum of Solino. The three gangsters agreed to disarm after peacekeepers promised that they would not be arrested.