Global perspective Human stories

Haiti plays UN-organized national reconciliation soccer match against Brazil

Haiti plays UN-organized national reconciliation soccer match against Brazil

media:entermedia_image:46d4de30-05ff-4538-b36d-46e3c6fe9a89
Secretary-General Kofi Annan today hailed a friendly soccer match between Brazil and Haiti in the troubled Caribbean country's capital for showcasing not only some of the best athletes in the world but also the ideal of peace.

“That’s the spirit of soccer! And it is this spirit that we will need if we want to build a new Haiti,” he said in a videotaped message to a standing room-only crowd of some 15,000 that included President Lula da Silva of Brazil.

The match in the Sylvio Cantor Stadium in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, was organized by the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Last week the MINUSTAH Force Commander, Gen. Augusto Heleno Rebeiro Pereira of Brazil, appealed to Haitians to support the "peace and reconciliation" game.

Mr. Annan said: "Haiti knows it can count on Brazil's friendship, its football stars, its UN peacekeepers, and above all, of its President Lula da Silva."

The Secretary-General voiced appreciation to them "for giving of their time and talent so generously and for helping Haiti in this difficult moment in its history."

He ended with a Haitian thank-you: "Mesi ampil."