21987: (Chamberlain) Brazil Senate approves 1,200 troops for Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     BRASILIA, Brazil, May 19 (Reuters) - Brazil's Senate agreed late on
Wednesday to send 1,200 troops to Haiti to lead a U.N peacekeeping mission
as Brazil seeks to build a role as a regional crisis mediator.
     President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has championed the interests
of the world's poorest nations since taking office, offered Brazil's
biggest ever U.N. peacekeeping force to head the mission.
     The Senate vote was the last hurdle for deployment. It was approved
with 38 votes for and 10 votes against.
     Lula, who objected to the U.S.-led war on Iraq last year, conditioned
Brazilian leadership of the mission on international support to build a
democracy in Haiti after two U.S. interventions within ten years.
     Leadership of the U.N. mission to Haiti would showcase Brazil's push
for regional stability as it seeks a permanent seat on the U.N. Security
Council, diplomats said.
     The U.N. peacekeeping mission will take over from a U.S.-led
multinational force on June 1. President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned in
February and fled Haiti under international pressure as an armed rebellion
threatened the capital Port-au-Prince.
     The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved on April 30 the new
mission of up to 5,700 U.N. troops and as many as 1,622 civilian police.
     Brazilian Senators also voted to increase Brazil's peacekeeping force
in East Timor -- a Portuguese-speaking country like Brazil -- to 125 from
75.