Military

20 April 2005

Security in Haiti Gradually Improving, U.N. Official Says

Continued involvement of international community seen as vital

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Security in Haiti is gradually improving, says an official with the United Nations.  But Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg, the leader of a U.N. Security Council fact-finding mission just back from Haiti, said April 20 that the international community must remain engaged in the strife-torn nation if it is to make any headway against urban violence and grinding poverty.

Sardenberg said the 15-member mission had condemned all violence in Haiti and called for a comprehensive national disarmament program, which includes helping former members of the Haitian armed forces reintegrate into civilian society.

The U.N. delegation's April 13-16 trip to Haiti sought to support the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti, known as MINUSTAH.  That stabilization mission is helping Haiti's transitional government disarm all illegal armed groups in preparation for free, fair and open democratic elections and the accession to power of an elected Haitian government in February 2006.

The United Nations’ Sardenberg, a diplomat from Brazil, said the Haitian elections should be monitored by international observers.

The United States is providing $15 million to support the Haitian elections -- part of a $44 million commitment from the international community to promote democracy and stability in the Caribbean nation.  The United States provided $8.7 million in 2004 to support Haiti's electoral process.

Many of Haiti's long-term structural problems continue, said Sardenberg.  But he added that a new political climate and national dialogue in Haiti, along with respect for human-rights standards, would help to resolve those problems.

Sardenberg said the U.N. delegation met with Haitian interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, representatives of civil society and the Haitian commissioner of civil police to collect information on safety and security, the upcoming elections, human rights and social and economic development in Haiti.

Representatives of Haiti's main political parties, Sardenberg said, stressed that all Haitians should be included in the national dialogue on achieving peace and security and in carrying out successful elections.

On the negative side, Sardenberg said the U.N. visit to Haiti coincided with the shooting death of a Filipino peacekeeper and a deadly gunfight between alleged gang members and Haitian police in a slum in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince.

The Filipino national, Antonio Batomalaque, 39, was the third U.N. peacekeeper to be killed in action in Haiti since MINUSTAH’s deployment to that country in June 2004.  The two other U.N. peacekeepers killed in Haiti were from Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Sardenberg said the delegation had identified "dramatic poverty" as the prime cause of Haiti's instability, and underscored the need for a long-term strategy to fight the scourge.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)