23774: (pub) Chamberlain: Philippines to send peacekeepers to Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     MANILA, Nov 11 (Reuters) - The Philippines will send up to 150
soldiers to Haiti next week to help United Nations' peacekeeping forces
stem political unrest and a wave of killings ahead of elections, an army
spokesman said on Thursday.
     Lieutenant-Colonel Buenaventura Pascual, a spokesman for the military,
said the Philippine troops would join nearly 4,000  peacekeepers in Haiti,
now run by an interim government charged with organising elections.
     "This is the first time we are sending peacekeeping troops to the
Caribbean nation," said Pascual. "They will be staying there for six
months. We may send a second batch if needed."
     Pascual said the Philippine contingent was organised after President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo approved a request from the United Nations'
Security Council to beef up the Brazilian-led peacekeeping mission.
     An advance team of four officers will leave on Friday.
     The U.N. mission is charged with restoring order in the poor Caribbean
nation after its president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ousted in February.
The mission has been hampered from the start by a shortage of international
troops and police.
     Nearly 200 people in Haiti have been killed in a wave of violence in
the past two months.
     Since taking a non-permanent seat in the 15-member U.N. Security
Council this year, the Philippines has sent peacekeeping forces to
strife-torn African states Ivory Coast and Liberia.
     It has also contributed troops in East Timor.
     In July, it withdraw a token presence in Iraq to save the life of a
Filipino driver taken captive by militants outside Baghdad.