19493: (Craig) NYT: U.N. Security Council Considers Multinational Force (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <hoosier@att.net>

U.N. Security Council Considers Multinational Force
February 29, 2004
By WARREN HOGE

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 29 - The United Nations Security
Council met in emergency session tonight to take up a
resolution calling for the immediate deployment of a
multinational force to Haiti.

The resolution would give United Nations authorization to
troops from nations like the United States, France and
Canada that have announced their intention to send soldiers
to Haiti right away.

It calls on the secretary general to decide within the next
30 days on the size, structure and mandate of a follow-up
United Nations "blue-helmeted" force no later than two
months from now.

China's Wang Guangya, the Security Council president, said
he had called the meeting after getting letters from
Boniface Alexandre, the new Haitian president sworn in
after Jean Bertrand Aristide's departure this morning, and
from John D. Negroponte, the United States envoy, and
France's ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabli?re.

Mr. Wang predicted quick council action, saying that there
was no dispute among the 15 Security Council nations over
the urgency of the situation. He said this sense of
emergency should prevail over the tradition of giving
ambassadors a 24-hour waiting period to check with their
capitals before voting.

There was general agreement, he said, that the troops going
in immediately merited United Nations "blessing."

Mr. Negroponte, entering the hall, said that Haiti had
already requested assistance from the United States "so I
don't think there's any obstacles to the Marines going in,
but it would be helpful to have a resolution."

One of the passages of the draft resolution warned of the
danger to the region "especially through the potential
outflow of people to other states," a particular worry of
the United States with the history of Haitians trying to
reach the shores of Florida during periods of turmoil in
their country.

Mr. Negroponte said he was unable to speculate on the
number of troops, which was described as a combination
police and military force. He said that France and the
United States both hoped the matter could be settled
tonight and not put off to Monday as had first been
suggested.

The language of the draft resolution was drawn up in an
afternoon meeting of an informal group called "Friends of
Haiti" that includes France, the two South American nations
now on the Security Council, Brazil and Chile, and various
countries from the Caribbean region.

The resolution recognizes the constitutional succession of
Mr. Alexandre, Haiti's chief justice, to the presidency and
urges members to honor his request "to assist in restoring
peace and security in Haiti and to further the
constitutional political process now under way."

Among the duties of the interim force would be securing and
stabilizing the country, getting humanitarian assistance
and international workers to Haitians now cut off from
contact and committing the United Nations to helping the
local police maintain public safety and order and to
protect human rights.

Noting the decades-long turmoil in Haiti, Kofi Annan told
reporters on entering the United Nations building, "This
time I hope the international community is not going to put
a Band-Aid on, and that we are not only going to help
stabilize the current situation but assist the Haitians
over the long haul and really help them pick up the pieces
and build a stable country."

In Paris, France's Defense Ministry said tonight that
France would be sending some 300 troops, to be followed by
100 police, to Haiti overnight to assure the security of
the French embassy and French nationals still in
Port-au-Prince. A spokesman said they would be dispatched
from France's overseas departments in the Caribbean,
Martinique, Guadeloupe and Guyane. Some 2,000 French
citizens normally reside in Haiti, although it is not known
how many have fled the chaos of recent days.

Government officials said France, the first country to
demand President Aristide's resignation, could eventually
send some troops from Europe and also use some of those
based in the Caribbean. "We're thinking a force of
hundreds, not thousands, will be necessary once a
government of national unity is in place," one well placed
Foreign Ministry official added.

The Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, who is
currently visiting Japan, told the government-owned France
2 television channel that there was also an urgent need for
humanitarian aid in Haiti. The officials said that France
would dispatch emergency aid to Port-au-Prince in the
coming days.

The officials said that, once stability had been restored
in Haiti, the international community should also oversee
the preparation of new elections and send human rights
observers to the country to insure these elections are
free.

About 50 Canadian soldiers provided security at the airport
in Port-au-Prince international airport today, assisting a
Hercules transport to fly Canadians out of the country to
the Dominican Republic. A company of the Second Batalion,
Royal Canadian Regiment, or about 120 troops, were standing
by in Trenton, Ontario, to be dispatched to the country.

"We'll be there when the conditions are right," Foreign
Affairs Minister Bill Graham said in a television interview
today. "It's important to get some troops in there."

Canada has long been an active contributor to United
Nations peacekeeping operations. With about a quarter of
the population French-speaking country and with a Haitian
immigrant population of 100,000, Canada is well positioned
to help in any international assistance program.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/international/americas/29CND-NATION.html?ex=1079105670&ei=1&en=af4dc0c7e9c75540
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company