Haiti

(Quelle: New York Times) Uncertainty remains among the highest level organizers of the elections about whether a fair vote is possible in the corrupt and deeply polarized political atmosphere here. The postponement has led to finger-pointing all around. The interim government blames the international community for the delays, saying it failed to deliver voter cards and train enough poll workers. The United Nations blames the interim government, accusing its leaders of stalling in fear of losing power.

(Quelle: New York Times) Gunmen killed two Jordanian U.N. peacekeepers and seriously wounded a third Tuesday at a checkpoint in a slum in Haiti's capital that is a stronghold for supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a spokesman said. The shootings in the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince occurred three weeks before long-postponed presidential and legislative elections to replace the interim government imposed after Aristide fled the country.

(Quelle: UN News) Secretary-General Kofi Annan has registered his opposition to a campaign of defamation against the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) as well as his senior envoy to the country. In a letter to Prime Minister Gérard Latortue, Mr. Annan rejects the slander in recent weeks as “unacceptable.” … The Secretary-General also urges the Prime Minister to publicly condemn the campaign to discredit the envoy and the mission, warning that it could threaten the security of MINUSTAH as well as the holding of free and fair elections.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Brazil jumped at the chance to lead the U.N. force 18 months ago to show it was a regional power worthy of a seat on a revamped U.N. Security Council. … Brazilian officers who hoped to mediate solutions with Haitians as fellow Latin Americans face pressure from other U.N. member forces to go into combat against armed gangs. Peacekeepers say they are seen as foreign occupiers or proxies of the United States, which helped engineer Aristide's flight.

(Quelle: Reuters Alertnet) The Haitian capital was paralyzed on Monday by a general strike called to protest a wave of kidnappings and what some Haitians see as U.N. inaction in the face of out-of-control crime. Organized by business leaders who have been urging the U.N force to be more muscular in cracking down on slum gangs as the country struggles to organize elections, the strike emptied shops and streets. Police sources say 1,900 people have been kidnapped in Port-au-Prince in the past 10 months, despite the presence of 9,000 U.N. troops and police.

(Quelle: FAZ) Der chilenische Chef der Minustah, Juan Gabriel Valdes, hat die zuletzt sprunghaft angewachsene Zahl von Entführungen mit den bevorstehenden Wahlen in Verbindung gebracht: Drogenhändler und politische Gruppen nähmen mit dem Lösegeld Einfluß auf den politischen Prozeß. … Die Regierung in Washington, die trotz des großen Engagements Brasiliens weiter über den entscheidenden Einfluß in Haiti verfügt, ist offenbar jetzt zum Schluß gekommen, daß baldige Wahlen eine Voraussetzung für die Schaffung einigermaßen geordneter Verhältnisse sind - und nicht umgekehrt.

(Quelle: ISN) Haiti’s elections for a new president, prime minister, and parliament have been delayed four times since November. Interim leaders said there were not enough polling stations or election workers to conduct the balloting and blamed the UN and the Organization of American States (OAS) for not living up to their commitments to prepare voting stations and register voters ahead of the election. … The new date for elections is 7 February.

(Quelle: Le Monde) La mort violente, samedi 7 janvier, du général brésilien qui commandait les troupes des Nations unies a alourdi l'atmosphère à Haïti, où les autorités, pressées par la communauté internationale, viennent d'annoncer un nouveau calendrier électoral. Reporté à quatre reprises, le premier tour des élections présidentielle et législatives est prévu le 7 février. C'était la date limite fixée par le Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU et par l'Organisation des Etats américains lors de réunions tenues le vendredi 6 janvier.

(Quelle: UN News) As investigators began probing the death of the senior military official leading the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Haiti, a 58-year old Brazilian general who was found dead today in Port au Prince, UN officials praised his legacy of peace. In New York, a spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was “shocked and saddened” to learn of the death of Lieutenant-General Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar, Force Commander of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), who was discovered in his accomodations.

(Quelle: New York Times) Haiti's election officials say the Organization of American States and the United Nations caused the latest postponement of presidential and legislative elections by failing to distribute voter cards and set up polling stations. Rosemond Pradel, secretary general of the Provisional Electoral Council, said over the weekend that the OAS had not lived up to a commitment to distribute voter identification cards in time for a Jan. 8 vote. Officials for the O.A.S. and the United Nations rejected the accusations.