Haiti

(Quelle: Reliefweb) International Cooperation Minister Aileen Carroll and Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew today announced that Elections Canada has been selected to put in place an international mission to oversee the electoral process in Haïti. The Canadian International Development Agency is contributing up to $3.5 million to this initiative.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti will crack down on violence that threatens elections this year, a U.N. official said on Thursday after a visit by a high-level contingent of foreign officials to the troubled Caribbean nation. ... A top elections official suggested last week that presidential, legislative and municipal elections scheduled for late this year should be postponed due to the violence and lagging voter registration.

(Quelle: UN News) The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti has launched a free and confidential telephone service through which Haitians can report on criminal activities to the mission's civilian police. Reports through the service, called 'Je Wè Bouch Pale,' would include human rights violations, any kind of corruption and, especially, kidnappings. They would be analyzed and transmitted to the appropriate law enforcement unit, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) said yesterday at the launching.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Elections in Haiti will take place as scheduled later this year, the troubled country's interim prime minister told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday as he renewed an appeal for more peacekeepers. Gerard Latortue said the council had a 'very enthusiastic' response to his assurances on elections and a request for U.N. reinforcements, delivered in a closed-door session. But it was unclear whether he won full council support for a 12-month extension of the U.N. peacekeeping mission's mandate, due to expire June 24. The mandate's duration 'is still under discussion,' Latortue told reporters after the council meeting.

(Quelle: taz) In Haiti ist ein französischer Diplomat erschossen worden. Nach Botschaftsangaben wurde Honorarkonsul Paul-Henri Mourral in Port-au-Prince von Kugeln getroffen, während es bei Angriffen auf ein Kommissariat und einen Markt zwei weitere Tote gab.

(Quelle: BBC) The United Nations Security Council has voted to extend the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Haiti by a further 24 days. The move was decided after diplomats failed to agree to a longer deployment of peacekeepers in the country. They hope the extension will provide extra time to resolve a diplomatic dispute with China. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has recommended troops remain for a further year to provide security for elections. But China insists that the peacekeeping mission should be prolonged by no more than six months.

(Quelle: New York Times) The United States has ordered all non-emergency personnel evacuated from Haiti while urging Americans to depart the country for what the State Department described as a 'volatile security situation.' The country has been ravaged by violent crime in recent months, including kidnappings and random shootings, and State Department officials said it had become difficult to ensure the safety of all its personnel.

(Quelle: New York Times) Yvon Neptune, the prime minister under former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, finally appeared before a judge over accusations that he masterminded the killings of 25 political opponents in February 2004, during the revolt against Mr. Aristide. The closed hearing in western St. Marc, where the attack took place, came a month after he started a hunger strike to protest his 11-month imprisonment without formal charges, and he was carried to the court on a stretcher.

(Quelle: BBC) Former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune has appeared before a judge to be charged with ordering political killings in 2004. Mr Neptune, who served under former President Aristide, has been on hunger strike for a month in protest at being held nearly a year without charge. … International pressure had been mounting on Haiti to either charge Yvon Neptune or to free him.

(Quelle: UN News) Recommending that the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Haiti be extended for another year and the mission enlarged, Secretary-General Kofi Annan commends it for carrying out crucial tasks in difficult circumstances and says it has created a security environment in which the political transition can take place.