Haiti: mourning 2 blue helmets shot dead by gunmen, UN mission pledges to find killers

As the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) held a solemn memorial in tribute to two Jordanian peacekeepers killed last week by unidentified gunmen, the senior UN envoy to the country vowed to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

First Lieutenant Ahmad Mohammad Beairat had just deployed to Haiti five days prior to being shot on 10 November, while Corporal Rami Wasef Almahameed had been serving since last May and was due to return to Jordan yesterday. He is survived by his wife and by his three-month old daughter who was born while he was in Haiti.

“Let there be no doubt that in conjunction with the Haitian National Police we will spare no efforts to apprehend the perpetrators of this despicable crime and ensure that they are brought to justice,” said the senior UN envoy to the country, Edmond Mulet, at Thursday’s ceremony.

Both soldiers “will be remembered by their comrades as highly dedicated and disciplined men, with a sense of duty and loyalty,” he said, praising the “courage and exemplary service rendered by the Jordanian Battalion and by all MINUSTAH military personnel, who brave constant danger day and night in their mission of protecting the citizens of Haiti and of restoring security to establish an environment in which humanitarian aid can be delivered, social services can be restored and infrastructures can be rebuilt.”

With Haiti’s municipal and local elections slated to take place in less than three weeks, Mr. Mulet said the process is “central to the people’s aspiration for peace and reconciliation” and emphasized that achieve that is essential to progress.

“We will not allow that this process be derailed and that their hope for a better future be destroyed,” he pledged.