27681: (news) Chamberlain: Spain urged to reconsider withdrawing Haiti troops (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     MADRID, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The United Nations is urging Spain to
reconsider its plans to withdraw its 200 peacekeeping troops from Haiti
next month, Spanish media reported on Sunday.
     No one at Spain's Defence Ministry was available to comment.
     Haiti held presidential elections earlier this month, the results of
which are still being counted. The UN has deployed 9,000 troops and police
to support the interim government and help ensure a return to democratic
rule after former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted from power in
2004.
     El Pais newspaper said the Spanish troops were due to come home around
March 15. Agency Europa Press quoted a UN spokesman as saying he hoped
Spain would reconsider. An official response from the UN on the Spanish
decision to bring troops home was expected this week, reports said.