26665: Wharram (news) U.S. Embassy Workers Return to Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Bruce Wharram <bruce.wharram@sev.org>


Yahoo! News
U.S. Embassy Workers Return to Haiti

Tue Nov 22, 9:30 PM ET

The U.S. Embassy said Tuesday that security in Haiti has improved enough for
diplomatic employees evacuated earlier this year to return in time for
elections.

The State Department in May and June ordered the evacuation of an
unspecified number of employees and their families for security reasons.

Some politicians and human rights groups called on Haiti's Provisional
Electoral Council to delay the elections because of lack of preparation and
security.

In the past 18 months, more than 1,200 Haitians have been killed because of
gang violence and political chaos, the Roman Catholic Justice and Peace
Commission reported.

More than 7,500 U.N. peacekeepers and police have been in Haiti since June
2004 to keep order. They arrived four months after the Feb. 29 overthrow of
former President Jean Bertrand Aristide.

Haiti's first elections since Aristide's ouster have been set for Dec. 27,
after three postponements. On Monday, however, the Provisional Electoral
Council declined to confirm the date officially. It said it needed more time
to fix a timetable.

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