Number of voters registered in Haiti passes 3 million, UN says

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti today opened a new General Headquarters for the capital, Port-au-Prince, after voter registration across the country passed a benchmark of 3 million.

The new Headquarters, commanded by a general, aims to ensure that the military component and police component in the area would carry out efficient, better integrated operations, the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) said.

As of Monday, 3.014 million Haitians had been officially been registered across the country, according to MINUSTAH, which termed the milestone a “great success.”

Meanwhile, 310 soldiers out of the extra 750 the Security Council authorized have arrived in the Caribbean country to create a rapid reaction force, especially in and around Port-au-Prince, MINUSTAH said.

In addition, a new voter registration centre with all the equipment necessary has been opened in a school in the heart of the troubled Cité Soleil, a low-income Port-au-Prince suburb, and it was an important and hopeful sign that the residents could register as citizens, MINUSTAH said.

Violence in and around Haiti's capital, especially in Cité Soleil and Bel Air, has been one of the major problems facing MINUSTAH since the Council set it up last year to help to re-establish order after an insurgency forced elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to go into exile earlier in the year.