Haiti

(Quelle: UN News) The leaders of Haiti and the international community must persevere in their efforts to help restore stability to the impoverished country, which has made significant strides but “the potential for regression remains,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report released today.

(Quelle: UN News) The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti is calling on locals to cooperate with its troops and with members of the national police at roadblocks and other checkpoints being set up to try to combat widespread crime and insecurity. The mission, known as MINUSTAH, has increased its logistical and material support to the national police (HNP) in the wake of a recent surge in crime, particularly kidnappings.

(Quelle: New York Times) Jean-Claude Duvalier, now in exile in France, sought recently to take advantage of the discontent by raising the possibility of a return to Haiti. In a radio address in September, he offered a tentative apology for his acts, saying, “If, during my presidential mandate, the government caused any physical, moral or economic wrongs to others, I solemnly take the historical responsibility.”

(Quelle: Reliefweb) The UN peacekeeping force in Haiti, now in its fourth year of deployment, will likely stay on for a while longer, though with a greater proportion of police to soldiers in the mission, a top UN official said Monday. Hedi Annabi, the assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations, told reporters during a visit to Brasilia that 'clearly there is more work to do.'

(Quelle: UN News) The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti will continue to help the Government to improve border security in 2008, the Organization’s top official in the Caribbean nation has pledged. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Hedi Annabi told a news conference yesterday in the capital, Port-au-Prince, that UN peacekeepers are already deploying at the four main points of entry into Haiti, will soon patrol the seaports and, at a later stage, also deploy a maritime unit.

(Quelle: International Crisis Group) To escape its “fragile state” status and consolidate the country’s stability, the Haitian government needs to implement a long-term diaspora policy with the support of the international community.Peacebuilding in Haiti: Including Haitians from Abroad, the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines how a sustained initiative to include three million Haitians living abroad could foster development and investment, strengthen state institutions and modernise the country’s political system.

(Quelle: UN News) A senior United Nations envoy is holding talks today with officials in the Dominican Republic about how to improve the border security of Haiti, where the UN has a peacekeeping operation to try to help stabilize the country after years of violence and misrule.

(Quelle: UN News) The United Nations today announced that it will repatriate more than 100 Sri Lankan peacekeepers serving with the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) on disciplinary grounds. … The move comes in response to allegations which are “of a transactional sex nature,” the Secretary-General’s spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters, adding that “there is a question of some underage girls.”

(Quelle: UN News) The Security Council today extended the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) through mid-October 2008 while reducing its military component and increasing police in order to adjust to changing circumstances in the country, where civil unrest remains a threat but gang violence has been significantly curtailed. … The Council endorsed Mr. Ban’s proposal to reduce the Mission’s military force level by one company, or some 140 troops, while increasing the police component with one additional formed police unit of up to 140 officers for a total authorized strength of 2,091 police.

(Quelle: NZZ) Drei Jahre nach der Landung der Blauhelmsoldaten ist die Macht der kriminellen Banden in Haiti gebrochen. Eine gemässigte Regierung versucht, die gespaltene Nation zu versöhnen und die Institutionen des Staates, vorab die Polizei und die Justiz, wiederaufzubauen. «C'est un autre monde» – von einer anderen Welt spricht die Vertreterin des Internationalen Komitees vom Roten Kreuz, die am Eingang zu Cité Soleil eine Gruppe von Journalisten empfängt.