Haiti: UN steps in
2004-06-01 20:56
Port-au-Prince -Blue-helmeted UN peacekeepers will once again begin patrolling impoverished Haiti this month as the world body formally takes over a security and stabilisation mission from multinational troops under US command here on Tuesday.
The UN is dispatching 6 700 troops and 1 622 civil police officers to Haiti, which has been ravaged by heavy storms in the past week, compounding its citizens' woes.
The handover ceremony occurred at Haiti's Police Academy as the multinational stabilisation force's authority was transferred to the United Nations.
Multinational troops were sent to the Caribbean country days after former president Jean Bertrand Aristide fled Haiti for exile on February 29.
"Our work will be very difficult, but we are here to overcome this difficult situation," Brazilian General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira, who will command the peacekeepers, told AFP.
After a message of support from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had been read to some peacekeepers already here, and a UN flag had been hoisted, Chilean troops present switched their berets to don blue UN-issue hats.
The UN Security Council had approved the multinational force on February 29 to help restore order in the wake of an armed uprising against Aristide's rule, ahead of deploying its own peacekeepers.
Haiti's interim President Boniface Alexandre and prime minister Gerard Latortue attended Tuesday's handover ceremony.
Although the new UN mission officially began on Tuesday, it will not be fully operational before the end of June.
"It's an authority transfer," explained UN spokesperson Toussaint Kongo-Doudou.
The fresh UN peacekeepers, coming from about 30 countries, are due to arrive here in coming days and weeks.
They will help replace US and French troops, some 3 300 soldiers in total, who will be returning home. Chilean and Canadian troops deployed here are staying on in this country of eight million people, under the new UN command.
It's the second time UN peacekeepers have replaced American soldiers here in recent years. UN soldiers replaced a US force and were deployed here from 1995 to 2000 after Aristide had been returned to power by Washington in 1994.
UN officials say the peacekeepers have a strong mandate for an expected long-term mission. They also point out that peacekeepers have recourse to use force if necessary under their UN rules of engagement.
The 6 700 UN peacekeepers face the task of disarming the rebels and militia loyal to Aristide and providing security while a transitional government organises new elections.
- SAPA