27159: (news) Chamberlain: Brazil says to keep UN leadership in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain

     BRASILIA, Brazil, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Brazil is determined to maintain
its leadership of the United Nations' peacekeeping force in Haiti despite
the death of the Brazilian commander over the weekend, the vice-president
said on Monday.
     "I have no doubt Brazil ought to maintain the command," Jose Alencar
told journalists in Brasilia.
     "We should not, under any circumstance, even question the mission. We
cannot retreat."
     Lt. Gen. Urano Bacellar, who had commanded the 9,000-strong U.N. force
in Haiti since the end of August, was found shot dead on Saturday in his
hotel room in the capital Port-au-Prince.
     Officials are investigating the possibility that he committed suicide.
     Haiti is struggling to organize its first presidential election since
a month-long armed revolt ousted then-president Jean Bertrand Aristide in
February 2004.
     Political violence and kidnappings continue to rage and critics are
raising questions about the effectiveness of the Brazilian-led peacekeeping
mission there.
     "The moment has come to withdraw Brazilian troops," said Maria Jose
Maninha, a congresswoman who led Brazilian parliamentary missions to Haiti.
She blamed a lack of international financial support for the mission.
     Brazil's efforts in Haiti are in line with President Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva's ambition to establish his country's regional leadership and
buttress its bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
     Alencar, who is also defense minister, said there "was work to be done
to ensure the command remained with Brazil."
     He planned to meet Brazil's army command later on Monday to discuss
whom they would propose to the United Nations as Bacellar's replacement.