28798 (news) Chamberlain: Annan to visit Haiti, wants to keep strong UN force (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Irwin Arieff

     UNITED NATIONS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
announced plans on Tuesday to visit Haiti as he advised the Security
Council against cutting back the U.N. peacekeeping mission there after
elections last February.
     The U.N. mission now numbering nearly 7,100 troops and 1,700 police
was sent into Haiti in June 2004 to support an interim government installed
after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled into exile under international
pressure.
     After new President Rene Preval took office in May, the level of
violence declined only to spike again in July, Annan said in a progress
report on Haiti to the 15-nation council.
     A thriving illegal trade in drugs and arms, gang violence and
kidnappings will remain a problem, Annan's report said.
     The Security Council should maintain its troop ceiling at 7,500 and
keep in place the 1,000 officers serving in trained riot police units while
increasing the number of civilian police to 1,951 from the current ceiling
of 1,897, he said.
     The mission's mandate, due to expire Aug. 15, should be extended an
additional 12 months -- the minimum needed to make progress in reforming
the legal system and improving local and national governance, he said.
     "It would also send an important signal to the Haitian people of the
enduring commitment of the international community," said Annan, who has
complained that previous international aid efforts in Haiti failed because
they ended before reforms could take hold.
     U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said Annan would travel to Haiti on
Wednesday, where he will meet with Preval and address a joint session of
parliament. He will then go on to the Dominican Republic, where he will
meet President Leonel Fernandez before returning to New York over the
weekend.