22011: Durban: A Peacekeeping Role for Rebels? (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com> To: corbetre@webster.edu Subject:
Durban:  A Peacekeeping Role for Rebels?

Although Daniel Simidor and others on this list may not like to hear it,
my sense is that most people in Haiti would be quite happy to see even
more foreign peacekeepers in-country.  Most Haitians are not members of
the "Live Free or Die" school, perhaps implicitly recognizing that freedom
is worth little if you don't have peace, security, employment, educational
opportunities, and the many creature comforts (electricity, water, roads,
etc.) that make life worth living.  Many would be more than happy to see
8,000 foreign peacekeepers with no political axes to grind stay
indefinitely.

Does that give up Haitian sovereignty?  Of course not, if it is
a duly-elected Haitian government that has invited them in.
Therein lies the problem and the present government's most
urgent challenge.  Namely, it is not duly-elected and organizing
credible elections is therefore top priority.

One of the key questions that all aspiring presidential
candidates should be asked is their opinion on maintaining
foreign peacekeepers in Haiti.  One can only hope that the
winning candidate will recognize that foreign peacekeepers are
actually better than a Haitian army OR police force because they
don't come with "political baggage".

Being the world's basket case and more or less permanent
recipient of the U.N.'s largesse is not good for Haiti's
self-esteem.  In exchange for a permanent contingent of, say,
8000 Blue Helmets, Haiti might insist upon contributing (and
eventually paying for) a force of Haitian peacekeepers,
available for deployment at the U.N.'s behest to the various
other hotspots around the world.

The time to start training this elite group would be now, and
recruitment should start with the armed rebels and chimere whose
continued joint presence in Haiti is contentious at best.  A
serious U.N. program to turn this rag-tag bunch into
professional peacekeepers, with the training and promise of
future meaningful assignments outside of Haiti, would eliminate
one very serious problem confronting the Alexandre-Latortue government
government and any future government.  Potential applicants
reporting WITH their weapons might even be given extra points on
the Blue Helmet Entrance Exam!

Internationalization of peacekeeping under U.N. auspices, is not
something that the world's superpowers have strongly backed.
Typically, the U.N. is called in only when the job looks
difficult or hopelessly long-term (eg. Cyprus).  Troops
frequently come from smaller countries, or regional neighbors
with an interest in maintaining a peaceful neighborhood.  It is
a concept whose time may have come, however, as the U.S. is
sadly learning in Iraq.  As Haiti gets set to receive the first
group of Blue Helmets in the coming months, it should think
about working with the U.N. to creatively convert its "rebels"
into "U.N. peacekeepers", available to serve in the next crisis
zone.

Lance Durban