Haiti's internal security remains precarious, UN report says

Although the United Nations peacekeeping force is almost at authorized strength and has improved Haiti's security, the situation remains precarious "and the possibility of outbreaks of violence cannot be ruled out," Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a new report on the Caribbean nation and the UN mission there.

"Although the general security environment across Haiti has improved, the Mission's determination to take action against gang members and former soldiers has increased the risk of retaliation against MINUSTAH and other United Nations personnel," he says in a report to the Security Council, referring to the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

A number of incidents targeting MINUSTAH have taken place since last November, he says.

A firm and even-handed approach has to be used as "various armed groups" challenge the authority of the State, he says. "Our mandated task of achieving a secure and stable environment, which may at times require the use of proportionate and necessary force, must remain at the forefront of our priorities."

Noting that $13.7 million have been pledged out of the $37.3 million requested from the international community in a Flash Appeal and that action has been taken to release some of the funds pledged at a December donors' conference, Mr. Annan urged the Transitional Government "to develop concrete projects that could effectively utilize the assistance provided."

The Government has started paying disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) compensation to former soldiers, even though they have refused to take part in such a programme and the Government itself has not, despite its assurances, decreed and brought into being a national commission on DDR, the report says.

"I would like to reaffirm the United Nations' position that compensation payments should be linked to disarmament and entry into a comprehensive disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme in order to ensure a durable solution," Mr. Annan says. "A piecemeal approach will only postpone problems, not address them."

He also calls on the Transitional Government to investigate human rights abuses, especially by officers of the Haitian National Police (HNP). The independent expert on human rights in Haiti, Louis Joinet, would report to the UN Commission on Human Rights in April on his trip last November to the country.

"Impunity for human rights violations must end," Mr. Annan says. "To uphold the rule of law and ensure full respect for human rights, it is clear that Haiti needs to reform its institutions, especially in the administration of justice."