CARICOM, Haiti appeal to Security Council for help as security worsens
Given its long record of deploying peacekeeping missions, the United Nations has a special responsibility to send a multinational force to Haiti during a rapidly deteriorating political and security crisis, Jamaican Foreign Minister Keith D. Knight told the United Nations Security Council today.
“The immediate need now is for the Security Council to authorize the urgent deployment of a multinational force to assist in the restoration of law and order, to facilitate a return to stability and to create an environment in which the continuing efforts to find a solution to the political crisis can be pursued,” he told the 15-member Council.
“Such international support would be important to prepare the ground for parliamentary elections and for a presidential election when due,” he said in an address on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which requested the Council meeting.
The more recent incursions by heavily armed "rebel" forces from the north have resulted in reprisal killings, the destruction of property and general lawlessness, creating a state of anarchy in much of the country, he added.
The Foreign Minister also recalled Jamaican Prime Minister Percival J. Patterson's appeal, in a letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan last week, for immediate action to safeguard democracy and avert bloodshed and a humanitarian disaster.
He welcomed Mr. Annan's proposal to name a Special Adviser to coordinate and promote greater UN engagement in dealing with the current crisis.
CARICOM, which has 15 members and five associate members, and the Organization of American States (OAS) have been mediating between Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the opposition. They have proposed such confidence-building measures as disarming armed groups, setting rules for demonstrations, strengthening the police force and establishing a transitional government of national unity and an Electoral Commission.
Mr. Aristide has accepted the plan, so long as he can serve out his term, which ends in 2006, but the opposition has rejected it.
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| Amb. Jean C. Alexandre of Haiti |
Addressing the Council meeting, which had some 30 representatives on the speaker's list, Haitian Ambassador Jean C. Alexandre said the armed opposition had carried out summary executions and released convicts sentenced for violent crimes and drug trafficking.
He urged the Council to reiterate its condemnation of the violence, its rejection of any new government taking power through an anti-democratic, unconstitutional process and its demand that the Haitian opposition accept a political compromise.
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| Frederick A. Mitchell, Foreign Minister of the Bahamas |
"The reality is that a nation with 8 million people, no military and a police force of just over 4,000 meant that government authority was thin on the ground," he said.
If the international community refuses to act quickly, “we will be condoning a creeping attempt to overthrow the Government of Haiti by force,” Mr. Mitchell said, noting that there are 32 previous examples of dislodging Haitian heads of State in this manner.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, meanwhile, sent a letter to the Council outlining a proposal "that broadens the CARICOM plan."
Its requirements would include the "immediate establishment of a civilian peacekeeping force," international aid in preparing for new elections, the delivery of humanitarian aid and the dispatch of human rights observers to Haiti, according to the letter, which was made public at the UN today.
"As for President Aristide, he bears heavy responsibility for the current situation. It is up to him to accept the consequences while respecting the rule of law. It is his decision; it is his responsibility," Mr. de Villepin said.
Enslaved Africans overthrew the French colonial government in Haiti 200 years ago.
Video of the Security Council meeting [3hrs]