Haiti

(Quelle: Washington Post) Haiti's interim prime minister said on Saturday his government would not talk directly with former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, but he welcomed foreign efforts to persuade the ousted leader to help end violence in the country. … Violence between pro- and anti-Aristide forces has killed at least 240 people since September.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) It all started so optimistically for Brazil's peacekeeping mission in Haiti. Back in June, a grateful population welcomed the troops. Brazil's soccer superstars showed up to play a special 'peace game' and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited the blighted Caribbean country to spread his brand of good cheer. The mission would show that Brazil was ready to assume a role as a regional diplomatic power with a more socially aware approach than the heavy-handed United States. It is turning out to be more complicated than that. Armed factions in Haiti have grown more violent and clashes between peacekeepers and Haitians have raised the risk that people will turn against the foreign troops.

(Quelle: SABC News) The African Union has come to the rescue and is taking over the crisis in Haiti to prepare the country for elections. President Thabo Mbeki met with Alpha Konare, the chairperson of the AU Commission and Jean Bertrand Aristide, the former Haitian President today to look at the program of action. … The request for AU intervention has come from Haitian political parties, including the current interim leadership. The AU will work with organisations such as the UN, CariCom and the Organisation of Amerian States.

(Quelle: UN News) Expressing concern about the disarmament and security situations in Haiti, the United Nations Security Council today said it was planning a mission to the troubled Caribbean country in the next several months. … The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was playing an important role in ensuring a secure environment, but the Council 'notes, however, that further urgent action is needed to continue to improve the security situation,' Mr. Biélsa said.

(Quelle: Southeast European Times) The 12 BiH peacekeepers are among MINUSTAH's 6,060 uniformed personnel, comprised of 4,790 soldiers and 1,270 civilian police.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Haitian government and the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) signed, on Monday 10 January, at the office of the Prime Minister, a global agreement concerning an important project to organize general elections in Haiti, in 2005.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Gunshots slightly wounded at least four UN troops, the UN Mission for Stabilization in Haiti announced Sunday. … At least 96 persons have been questioned and several machine guns and grenades were seized during the operation, which lasted several hours in Cite Soleil, the largest slum in the capital, mission spokesman Damien Onses Cardona told AFP.

(Quelle: New York Times) … Nine months after taking office, the interim government of Prime Minister Gérard Latortue is besieged by mounting criticism from every sector of society. Recent street fighting, some of it involving gangs that supported Mr. Aristide, has claimed an estimated 200 lives and left much of Port-au-Prince's business district deserted. ... Many politicians and experts said in recent interviews that the election scheduled for next November to restore democracy here was in danger of being compromised or canceled.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) Haitian police launched a manhunt on Monday for a former soldier who has called for guerrilla war against the interim government that took over from ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a government official said. Justice Minister Bernard Gousse said Haitian police were seeking Remissainthes Ravix because he had threatened to kill Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and police chief Leon Charles. Ravix is the self-proclaimed leader of renegade former soldiers who have turned against the interim government.

(Quelle: Reliefweb) A Haitian rebel leader has called on ex-soldiers, who helped oust former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to launch a guerrilla war to unseat the interim government that replaced him. … 'We called on former military from across the country to organize a guerrilla warfare to give a response to the government,' said Remissainthes Ravix, the self-proclaimed commander of the former military, which took over the former Aristide compound on Thursday. The stand-off over Aristide's home underlined the violence and tensions plaguing Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, despite the presence of some 6,000 Brazilian-led U.N. peacekeeping troops and police.