23640: (pub) Chamberlain: Peacekeepers bolster struggling U.N. Haiti mission (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     UNITED NATIONS, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Two hundred Spanish marines arrived
in northern Haiti on Wednesday to beef up a U.N. peacekeeping mission
struggling to stop killings and stem widespread unrest, the United Nations
said.
     Additional troops from Sri Lanka are due in Haiti on Thursday that
should bring the peacekeepers to 3,692, a little over half of the U.N.
force's authorized strength of 6,700 soldiers, U.N. officials said.
     The mission, charged with restoring order in impoverishedHaiti after
its president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was oust
    The mission, charged with restoring order in impoverishedHaiti after
its president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was oust ed in February, has been
hampered from the start by a shortage of promised international troops and
police.
    Aristide was forced out after a February revolt killed more than 200
people.
    Aristide supporters blame the interim government for recent violence.
The government blames Aristide for inciting demonstrations from South
Africa, where he is in exile.
    U.N. officials said the Spanish troops, equipped with armored vehicles,
would form a joint brigade with 150 Moroccan troops due to arrive in the
northern town of Cap Haitien on Sunday.
    "The joint brigade will be tasked with ensuring security in the
northeast of Haiti and along the border, an area in which there is reported
to be widespread smuggling and arms trafficking," said U.N. chief spokesman
Fred Eckhard.
    Haiti is now run by an interim government charged with organizing
elections. But many Aristide supporters are still furious over his
departure and the country is awash with arms.
    Chilean Foreign Minister Ignacio Walker said that Brazil and Chile were
pushing the government to reach a political truce and stem the violence.
    U.N. special envoy Juan Gabriel Valdes, a Chilean diplomat, has also
urged the government to bring sparring political groups to the negotiating
table.