Haiti

(Quelle: UN News) Seventeen more presumed gang members have been arrested in one of Haiti’s most dangerous areas, the Cité Soleil quarter of Port-au-Prince, the capital, in the latest sweep by hundreds of United Nations peacekeepers to rid the city of violent crime. The operation yesterday by some 700 UN blue helmets, which also led to the seizure of a number of illegal weapons, was planned and executed in collaboration with the Haitian National Police, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) said in a statement. “It marks an intensification of recent efforts to stabilize and secure the crime-ridden parts of the Haitian capital,” the mission added.

(Quelle: UN News) Extending the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) by another eight months, the Security Council today endorsed its recently stepped-up campaign against armed criminal gangs and called for the operations to continue. In a resolution adopted unanimously, Council members agreed to extend the force – comprised of almost 8,400 troops and police – through 15 October to help establish stability in Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. The resolution specifically requested that “MINUSTAH continue the increased tempo of operations in support of the HNP [Haitian National Police] against armed gangs as deemed necessary to restore security, notably in Port-au-Prince,” the capital.

(Quelle: UN News) Some of Haiti’s poorest people can now go about their daily business free from the fear of being terrorized by armed gangs following a large-scale United Nations security operation in the Boston area of the Cité Soleil quarter of Port-au-Prince, the capital, according to the top UN commander in the country. “The situation has been stabilized and UN troops have re-established conditions in this quarter for the Government and international organizations to work there for the wellbeing of the population,” UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) Military Force Commander Major-General Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz told a news conference yesterday in Port-au-Prince. “Under no circumstances can MINUSTAH troops accept that the local population should be victims of armed violence,” he added, referring to the four-day operation which ended yesterday and is part of an ongoing campaign by UN peacekeepers against criminal gangs in the capital.

(Quelle: New York Times) For years, street gangs have run Haiti right alongside the politicians. With a disbanded army and a corrupted wreck of a police force, successive presidents have either used the gangs against political rivals or just bought them off. Recently, something extraordinary has occurred. President René Préval decided to take on the gangs and set the 8,000 United Nations peacekeepers loose on them, a risky move that will determine the security of the country and the success of his young government. “We’re taking back Port-au-Prince centimeter by centimeter,” said Lt. Col. Abdesslam Elamarti, a peacekeeper from Morocco. “We’re pressing these gangs so the population can live in peace.”

(Quelle: UN News) The first of 350 Nepalese soldiers, all of whom are expected to be deployed by early March, began arriving in Haiti this week to participate in the United Nations peacekeeping mission known as MINUSTAH. The newly arrived soldiers will join peacekeepers already on the ground as early as this week to help rid Cité Soleil, the infamous inner-city neighbourhood in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, of criminal gangs who have long been terrorizing citizens.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) At least five people were killed and six wounded after a United Nations peacekeeping force raided a volatile slum in the capital of impoverished Haiti this week, U.N. and hospital officials said on Friday. U.N. military spokesman Col. Abdesslam Elamarti said the force was building up its efforts to clear the Caribbean country's most dangerous slums of criminal gangs who still hold sway in parts of Port-au-Prince. 'We are now intensifying our operations in those areas where the gangs operate to make sure the people can go about their activities,' Elamarti said.

(Quelle: UN News) Haiti has made solid progress in rebuilding its economy and restoring the rule of law but serious obstacles remain in the country, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping operation there said today. “If you take a picture of Haiti today, you’ll see it’s quite a worrisome picture,” Edmond Mulet, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the Mission, known as MINUSTAH, told reporters at UN Headquarters, referring to problems the country currently faces such as political polarization, corruption, violence and paucity of institutions.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) China could block an extension of the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti due to the South American country's diplomatic ties with rival Taiwan, diplomats said Monday. The UN Security Council on Monday discussed a 12-month renewal of the UN peacekeeping operations' mandate in Haiti, which will expire February 15. Former secretary general Kofi Annan had called for a 12-month extension of the 7,700-strong force. It was not known whether China, a veto power on the 15-nation council, would agree to the whole extension or would demand changes in the mandate. But China has strongly opposed UN presence in countries that have ties with Taiwan, which China views as a renegade province.

(Quelle: BBC) UN peacekeepers in Haiti say they have set up a stronghold in one of the largest and most violent slums of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The stronghold is to be a centre for operations against armed gangs, a UN spokesperson told the BBC.

(Quelle: UN News) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today named Major General Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz of Brazil as the new Force Commander of the peacekeeping UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). … The Secretary-General communicated his intention to appoint Major General Santos Cruz in a letter to the Security Council, which established MINUSTAH in 2004 after an insurgency forced elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile.