Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Friday 6 OctOber 2017

UN ending 13-year military peacekeeping mission in Haiti

By EVENS SANON in a series of coups and
Associated Press that the Haitian govern-
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti ment is now seeking to re-
(AP) — A U.N. peacekeep- constitute over internation-
ing mission in Haiti that has al objections.
helped maintain order “Haiti needs an atmo-
through 13 years of politi- sphere of peace so we
cal turmoil and catastro- can take responsibility for
phe is coming to an end as ourselves,” said Haitian
the last of the blue-helmet- Sen. Jacques Suaveur
ed soldiers from around the Jean. “We don’t need for-
world leave despite con- eign soldiers.”
cerns that the police and The new U.N. mission will
justice system are still not consist of seven police units
adequate to ensure secu- that can respond to major
rity in the country. incidents, in addition to of-
The U.N. planned to lower ficers deployed throughout
its flag at its headquarters the country to advise and
in Port-au-Prince during a assist their Haitian counter-
ceremony Thursday that parts. Civilians will also be
will be attended by Presi- In this Sept. 13, 2016 photo, a Sri Lanka Air Force airman carries the U.N. flag during training for a working with the govern-
dent Jovenel Moise. After road patrol at the Institute of Peace Support Operations Training in Kukuleganga, Sri Lanka. The ment to improve the coun-
a gradual winding down, U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti is coming to an end on Oct. 15. try’s justice system, which
there are now about 100 (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) the State Department said
international soldiers in the of the U.N. mission in Haiti national sovereignty. U.N. armed takeover of the in this year’s annual hu-
country and they will leave known as MINUSTAH, its troops are believed to have state, in terms of increasing man rights report has seri-
within days. The mission will French acronym. “The Unit- inadvertently introduced the safety of civilians,” said ous flaws, including severe
officially end on Oct. 15. ed Nations is not leaving.” the deadly cholera bac- Mark Schneider, a senior prison overcrowding, pro-
Immediately afterward, MINUSTAH began opera- teria to the country and adviser with the Center for longed pretrial detention
the U.N. will start a new tions in Haiti in 2004, when a have also been accused of Strategic and International and an inefficient judiciary.
mission made up of about violent rebellion swept the causing civilian casualties Studies in Washington. “It Honore, in an interview
1,300 international civilian country and forced then- in fierce battles with gangs takes work to maintain that ahead of Thursday’s cer-
police officers, along with President Jean-Bertrand in Port-au-Prince and of and Haiti needs to main- emony, cited the training
350 civilians who will help Aristide out of power and sexually abusing minors. tain that.” and hiring of police officers
the country reform a deep- into exile. Its goals included But the mission, with ad- MINUSTAH, Schneider said, as one of the U.N. success-
ly troubled justice system. restoring security and re- ditional help from the U.S. has been key in helping es.MINUSTAH had already
Various agencies and pro- building the shattered polit- and other nations, is also Haiti develop a credible ci- been scaling back before
grams of the international ical institutions. In April, the credited with stabilizing the vilian national police from the Security Council voted
body, such as the Food Security Council deemed country, particularly after “almost zero” to its current to end the mission. In the
and Agricultural Organiza- the country sufficiently the January 2010 earth- level of about 15,000 of- aftermath of the earth-
tion, will also still be working stable and voted to wind quake, and building up the ficers, which most experts quake, which killed 96 U.N.
in the country. down the international mili- national police force. believe is still too small for personnel, including for-
“It will be a much smaller tary presence, which then “The job may not be com- a country of nearly 11 mil- mer head of mission Hedi
peacekeeping mission,” consisted of about 4,700 plete but they have es- lion. The police force was Annabi, the number of
said Sandra Honore, a dip- troops. sentially done much of intended to replace the troops reached more than
lomat from Trinidad and Many Haitians have viewed what they were originally army, which was disband- 10,000. But when Honore
Tobago who has served the multinational peace- designed to do in terms ed by Aristide in 1995 be- arrived there were about
since July 2013 as the head keepers as an affront to of preventing any kind of cause of its repeated role 6,200 soldiers from around
20 countries, a figure that
4 toddlers killed in fire at Brazil day care center dropped again by nearly
a third within two years.The

By STAN LEHMAN cials said. He identified the guard as Minas Gerais, cares for cholera outbreak, which
started in October 2010
Associated Press A firefighter in the city of 50-year-old Damiao Soares about 70 children, accord- after peacekeepers from
SAO PAULO (AP) — Four Janauba said by telephone dos Santos, who had ing to local media. Nepal contaminated the
children and a teacher that the guard, who was helped with security at the In a tweet, Brazilian Presi- country’s largest river with
died and several others seriously injured, died hours center since 2008. He said dent Michel Temer said: waste from their base, killed
were injured at a day care later in a local hospital. The a teacher also died in the “I’m very sorry about this an estimated 9,500 people
center in eastern Brazil on firefighter, who declined to fire.The motive of the at- tragedy involving children and irrevocably damaged
Thursday when a guard give his name, said the ma- tack was unclear. in Janauba. I want to ex- the reputation of the orga-
doused the school with al- jority of the victims ranged The daycare center in press my sympathy to the nization in Haiti. q
cohol and set it alight, offi- in age from 1 to 4 years old. Janauba, in the state of families.”q