Haiti: UN mission promises improved security as more troops arrive

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti is set to have more than 8,000 troops and police on the ground by the end of this month and will be able to demonstrate to country's people its determination to disarm rogue groups and establish security, the senior UN envoy to the country has said.

The problem of security in the Caribbean country could not be resolved by force, but by a making a huge effort to isolate those using violence and disarming them, Juan Gabriel Valdés, the head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), told a news conference on Wednesday.

"Security is the number one priority not only for Haitians, but also the number one priority for MINUSTAH and all those who are here to assist the people of Haiti," he said.

Last month the Security Council renewed Haiti's peacekeeping force for six months, until 1 June 2005 on the recommendation of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who reported a deteriorating security situation and an upsurge of violence in Haiti.

MINUSTAH was established in April after unrest in February led to the departure of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Part of its mandate is to promote a series of elections leading to new presidential elections on 7 February 2006.

While security was being restored, Mr. Valdés said, Adama Guindo of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and he would go to a World Bank meeting in Washington, DC, next week to express their concern about delays by the international community in handing over aid that it promised months ago.

"We wish to obtain the funds to create job opportunities for Haitians in 2005," Mr. Valdés said.

At the Bank meeting, they would try, together with the international agencies, to make the conditions imposed on Haiti more flexible so the funds could be released, projects could be approved and the Haitian development process could resume, he said.

At the pledging conference in July, co-hosted by the UN, the European Union (EU), the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank, donors promised more than $1 billion. The Haitian Government, in turn, agreed to expedite projects agreed on in its two-year Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF), to include the private sector and civil society and to maintain transparency.

A smaller grant has gone to a national school feeding programme, Education for All (EFA) projects and establishing an office for public-private development partnerships.