Haiti

(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.

(Quelle: BBC) The party of ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been barred from registering a jailed Catholic priest as its presidential candidate. Gerard Jean-Juste was arrested two months ago on suspicion of involvement in the murder of journalist Jacques Roche. He denies the accusations.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Haitian authorities on Monday changed for the third time this year the dates for the country's first presidential and legislative elections since the ouster of president Jean Bertrand Aristide. The first round of voting will take place November 20 and the second round on January 3, the interim government said. Municipal and local elections will take place December 11, according to the interim government that took over after Aristide fled the country amid an armed uprising in February 2004.

(Quelle: UN News) Venezuela, citing historical ties, has offered to assist Haiti in the areas of energy, education and economic development, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Caribbean country, Juan Gabriel Valdés, said. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez made the offer in the margins of a meeting of foreign ministers from the Rio Group of Latin American states, focusing on Haiti, last Thursday and Friday in Bariloche, Argentina, he said.

(Quelle: New York Times) Sitting at the gateway of the nation's capital, Cité Soleil is a broiling slum of shacks, dust and ditches filled with human waste. ... Yet, with the first round of national elections now scheduled for Nov. 13, what happens in Cité Soleil is increasingly important to the world beyond its squalor. Not only does it have one of the biggest blocs of potential voters - many of whom back Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the ousted president - but it also can generate the kind of violence that could disrupt those elections. For United Nations peacekeeping forces, bringing some semblance of order to Cité Soleil and giving its residents a chance to vote in the elections are seen as important steps in establishing a new, credible government in Haiti.