Haiti

(Quelle: BBC) Haiti's interim government has filed a lawsuit in the US against the exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It alleges that Mr Aristide and eight other defendants stole tens of millions of dollars from the Haitian treasury and state-owned telephone firm Teleco.

(Quelle: UN News) A Jordanian peacekeeper serving with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) has become the latest blue helmet to lose his life for the cause of peace after dying today of a gunshot wound sustained at the weekend during an operation to seize a stolen vehicle and find a kidnapped woman.

(Quelle: UN News) The Security Council today stressed the primary importance of holding a first round of elections in Haiti this year, and urged the authorities there to undertake a series of measure to achieve this goal. ... Specifically, the Council urged the Haitian authorities to work with the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) to develop a phased electoral plan as a matter of priority, with a view to finalizing a feasible electoral calendar. It also urged the Haitian authorities to publish the final list of candidates for the elections and to agree in consultation with MINUSTAH on a list of voting centres.

(Quelle: Reuters AlertNet) Haiti's human rights situation is 'catastrophic,' with summary executions, mob violence, torture and arbitrary arrests, the top U.N. human rights official in the troubled Caribbean nation said on Friday.

(Quelle: BBC) Haiti's planned elections will probably have to be postponed, interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has said. He was speaking after a cabinet meeting to discuss logistical and funding problems dogging the preparations. The presidential and parliamentary polls are scheduled for 20 November, but Mr Latortue told the BBC they could now be held two to three weeks later.

(Quelle: UN News) With a significant number of voters and with candidates representing a broad range of political opinion gearing up for upcoming elections in Haiti, a credible vote is possible but the Transitional Government must take further measures to ensure success, a new United Nations report says. “Haiti is at a critical juncture,” UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in the report to the Security Council on the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The security environment in Haiti has improved in recent months, with MINUSTAH helping the Haitian National Police to develop a reform plan aimed at enhancing professionalism and technical skills. But the report warns that the potential for a resurgence of violence remains and continued preparedness will be crucial, particularly during the electoral period.

(Quelle: UN News) The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti today opened a new General Headquarters for the capital, Port-au-Prince, after voter registration across the country passed a benchmark of 3 million. The new Headquarters, commanded by a general, aims to ensure that the military component and police component in the area would carry out efficient, better integrated operations, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) said. ... Meanwhile, 310 soldiers out of the extra 750 the Security Council authorized have arrived in the Caribbean country to create a rapid reaction force, especially in and around Port-au-Prince, MINUSTAH said.

(Quelle: AlertNet) U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Haiti's interim government, struggling to contain political and criminal violence, to speed up planning for November's elections and urged citizens to get out and vote. In a one-day visit to Haiti on Tuesday under heavy security, Rice met interim President Boniface Alexandre and Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and expressed concern over planning for the Nov. 20 legislative and presidential poll.

(Quelle: AlertNet) An investigative judge has formally charged Haiti's jailed former prime minister, Yvon Neptune, with masterminding the killings of political opponents last year, radio reports said on Tuesday. Neptune, who served under ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has been held for more than a year on suspicion of involvement in the killings of up to 50 people near St. Marc, about 60 miles (96 km) north of Port-au-Prince, on Feb. 11, 2004.

(Quelle: BBC) Former Presidents Rene Preval and Leslie Manigat, as well as ex-PM Marc Bazin, are among the candidates. … Mr Aristide's Lavalas Family party - which has widespread support, particularly in the capital's poorer neighbourhoods - has threatened to boycott the elections. Earlier this week, it was barred from registering its chosen candidate, Gerard Jean-Juste.