21636: Bloomberg.com: UN Votes to Send Troops to Haiti, Led By Brazil (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>


UN Votes to Send Troops to Haiti, Led By Brazil

April 30 (Bloomberg) -- The United Nations
Security Council voted 15 to 0 to send 8,322
soldiers and civilian police, led by Brazil, to
Haiti for six months to rebuild the
violence-plagued Caribbean nation, the Western
Hemisphere's poorest.

Fighters who took control over northern Haiti and
threatened to attack the capital of
Port-au-Prince forced Jean-Bertrand Aristide from
the presidency in February.

``We will be there for the long haul,'' said
Ambassador Heraldo Munoz of Chile, a council
member that will contribute to the UN force. ``We
won't lose patience as we did in the past. We
will stay until democracy is reinstated, along
with the rule of law and a strong state.''

Brazilian Ambassador Ronaldo Sardenberg said his
country would lead the mission and contribute
1,400 of the 6,700 troops, which will serve
alongside 1,622 civilian police. Angola, Benin,
Nepal and Pakistan are also planning to send
troops or police to Haiti, according to Munoz,
Sardenberg and French Ambassador Jean- Marc de La
Sabliere.

Renewing the Mission

The Security Council authorized the force for six
months, with an ``intent to renew for further
periods,'' even after UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan recommended a two-year mandate. Council
members said they wanted to review the mission
with the Organization of American States and the
Caribbean Community in a shorter period of time.

A force of more than 3,000 Canadian, Chilean,
French and U.S. troops has provided security in
Port-au-Prince and three northern cities since
March 1, under a UN resolution.

Haiti has had a history of political instability
since it declared independence from France in
1804 after a revolt by half a million black
slaves. The nation had a per-capita economic
output of $425 in 2002, and is beset with AIDS,
illiteracy and drug trafficking.

An interim government is trying to improve living
conditions in the country, where 52 percent of
the 8 million people live on less than $1 a day.

`Bad Guys'

``The interim government doesn't have domestic or
international political support and there are a
lot of bad guys still running around the country
with a lot of weapons,'' said Julia Sweig, senior
fellow at the Council on Foreign relations, a
policy analysis group. ``That is why the
international community has to go there and
stay.''

Sweig said Brazil's willingness to head the
mission marks a change in the foreign policy of a
nation whose $490 billion economy is South
America's largest.

``The leadership of Brazil is very significant
for the hemisphere because Brazil has had an
inward-looking foreign policy, but is beginning
to assert itself,'' Sweig said. ``Brazil sees
itself as an emerging middle power, lobbying for
a permanent seat on the Security Council and
taking a leadership role as a counterweight to
the U.S. and Mexico.''

The UN is having difficulty getting nations to
contribute French-speaking civilian police to
Haiti, where most people speak French, according
to David Wimhurst, spokesman for the UN
Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

``It will be a challenge,'' Wimhurst said. ``We
need French- speaking police to interface with
the people. We also have a mission in Ivory Coast
and will have one in Burundi, both French-
speaking nations, so it's not going to be easy.''


The mission to Haiti will be the UN's 15th. With
missions to Burundi and Sudan under
consideration, the number of troops wearing the
UN blue helmets may increase to as much as 72,000
from 49,000 and the UN's peacekeeping budget may
rise to $4.8 billion from $3.5 billion, Wimhurst
said.

``With those numbers, it is normal that there
might be some difficulty getting the necessary
resources,'' German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger.






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