23066: (Craig) Newsday: UN Peacekeeping Force in Haiti at 40 Pct. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <sak-pase@bimini.ws>


UN Peacekeeping Force in Haiti at 40 Pct. By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated
Press Writer August 27, 2004, 7:05 AM EDT UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N.
peacekeeping force in Haiti has just over 40 percent of its troops and
is facing a deteriorating security situation with armed groups still
controlling parts of the country, according to U.N. diplomats and
officials. But Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Hedi Annabi
told a closed Security Council meeting Thursday that despite
deteriorating security, a fragile political situation and logistical
difficulties, the peacekeepers have made an encouraging start. He said
about 2,700 peacekeepers are in Haiti and the United Nations hopes to
more than double the number in the next month or so, diplomats said,
speaking on condition of anonymity. That would bring it closer to the
6,700-strong force authorized by the council to replace a 3,600-strong
U.S.-led multinational force sent to Haiti to restore order after a
three-week rebellion culminated in the ouster of former president
Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Feb. 29. The U.N. force is concentrated in
three locations "but they do not control the whole area yet," said
Germany's deputy U.N. ambassador Wolfgang Trautwein. "For example, the
ports and airports are still very much under control of the militias."
Only 240 of the 1,622 civilian police authorized by the council have
arrived and the United Nations is working on getting more, especially
from French-speaking countries, Annabi said, according to diplomats. The
U.N. force is led by Brazil, which has nearly 1,200 troops, mainly in
the capital, Port-au-Prince. Brazil's U.N. Ambassador Ronaldo Mota
Sardenberg said the force is expecting a battalion of French-speaking
Africans, another battalion from Spain and Morocco, and further troops
from Sri Lanka and Nepal. But he said troop pledges still fall short of
the 6,700 total. Sardenberg said Brazil had expected the U.S.-led force
to start the disarmament process but it didn't so the U.N. force will
have to tackle the problem of armed groups. But it needs more troops to
start the process, he said. The other major challenge for the U.N.
mission is to help organize local, parliamentary and presidential
elections next year, Sardenberg said. "This process is just beginning
and it must be accelerated," he said. Copyright © 2004, The Associated
Press
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-un-haiti,0,1759640.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines