HAITI: United Nations Security Council delegation led by the United States Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice is in Haiti to assess security needs prior to reducing the 10,500 strong peacekeeping force
Record ID:
862069
HAITI: United Nations Security Council delegation led by the United States Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice is in Haiti to assess security needs prior to reducing the 10,500 strong peacekeeping force
- Title: HAITI: United Nations Security Council delegation led by the United States Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice is in Haiti to assess security needs prior to reducing the 10,500 strong peacekeeping force
- Date: 16th February 2012
- Summary: CHILDREN PERFORMING MARTIAL ARTS EXERCISES FOR DELEGATION UN DELEGATION APPLAUDING
- Embargoed: 2nd March 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Haiti, Haiti
- City:
- Country: Haiti
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA8TKYZOZML44ZZYWTZMEK6FMVE
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: A United Nation's Security Council delegation in Haiti visited the city of Leogane on Tuesday (February 14).
The delegation is in the country to assess security needs before a decision over reducing the 10,500-member peacekeeping force.
After an early morning meeting in Port-au-Prince with members of Haiti's Parliament one Haitian Senator said the group had discussed plans for the UN's withdrawal from Haiti.
"We have to withdraw MINUSTAH and we have to prepare the withdraw because it is important that today we have a plan," said Senator Yuri Latorture.
Another hot topic is the mounting public unease over the U.N. role in Haiti after recent allegations of rape involving Pakistani and Uruguayan soldiers, on top of anger over a deadly cholera epidemic in 2010 linked to the peacekeeping force, known as MINUSTAH.
"We are waiting for the results of an investigation because the Council of Security agrees that there are fifteen cases of sexual abuse and that it is important to stop and it is for that reason that I gave the Council of Security the dossier to lead the process and to see what can we do concerning the process," said Latorture.
The 15 council members are expected to meet with President Michel Martelly. Martelly has proposed replacing the peacekeeping force with a reconstituted Haitian army, which was disbanded in 1995 after a brutal period of military rule. U.N. peacekeepers were sent to Haiti in 2004 after an armed uprising against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who fled into exile but has since returned.
According to some diplomats, the United Nations is likely to propose a reconfiguration of its peacekeeping force later this year. They would reduce the number of foreign infantry battalions while keeping military engineering units to help with civil infrastructure projects and maintaining a strong international police presence.
Despite the worst poverty statistics in the hemisphere, Haiti's security situation is good compared with its neighbors and it enjoys one of the lowest murder rates in the region. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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