25796: (news) Chamberlain: Philippines sending extra 200 troops to Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     MANILA, July 19 (Reuters) - The Philippines will send 200 additional
troops to Haiti to help United Nations' peacekeeping forces curb political
unrest ahead of elections, the president said on Tuesday.
     The Philippines sent up to 150 soldiers to Haiti last November to join
nearly 4,000 Brazilian-led peacekeepers on the Caribbean island, now run by
an interim government charged with organising fresh elections, scheduled
for November.
     "I have authorised 200 soldiers more to be sent to Haiti," Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo said during celebrations marking the Department of Foreign
Affairs' 107th anniversary.
     The U.N. mission is tasked with restoring order in Haiti after its
president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ousted in February last year. About
650 people in Haiti have been killed in a wave of violence since last
September.
     In April, a Filipino peacekeeper was killed during an attack on a
checkpoint in the impoverished Cite Soleil neighbourhood, one of Haiti's
most dangerous areas.
     Since taking a non-permanent seat in the 15-member U.N. Security
Council last year, the Philippines has sent peacekeeping forces to African
states Ivory Coast and Liberia. It has also contributed troops to East
Timor.
     In July last year, it withdrew a token presence in Iraq to save the
life of a Filipino truck driver taken captive by militants outside Baghdad.