|
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti
|
The United Nations Stabilization Mission In Haiti (French: Mission des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation en Haïti), also known as MINUSTAH, an acronym of the French translation, is a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti that has been in operation since 2004. The mission's military component is led by the Brazilian Army and the Chilean army. The force commander is Brazilian. The current UN mission is authorized until October, 2008. As of May, 2008, the force was composed of a total of 9,055 uniformed personnel which included 7,174 troops and 1,881 police, supported by an international civilian personnel, a local civilian staff and United Nations Volunteers[1]
Current status
Brazilian MINUSTAH soldier with a Haitian girl.
Although the United Nations Stabilization Mission (MINUSTAH) has been in Haiti since 2004, it continues to struggle for control over the armed gangs. It maintains an armed checkpoint at the entrance to the shanty town of Cité Soleil and the road is blocked with armed vehicles.[2] In January 2006, two Jordanian peacekeepers were killed in Cité Soleil.[3] In October 2006 a heavily armed group of the Haitian National Police were able to enter Cité Soleil for the first time in three years and were able to remain one hour as armored UN troops patrolled the area. Since this is where the armed gangs take their kidnap victims, the police's ability to penetrate the area even for such a short time was seen as a sign of progress.[4] The situation of continuing violence is similar in Port-au-Prince. Ex-soldiers, supporters of the ex-president, occupied the home of ex-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide against the wishes of the Haitian government.[5] Before Christmas 2006 the UN force announced that it would take a tougher stance against gang members in Port-au-Prince, but since then the atmosphere there has not improved and the armed roadblocks and barbed wire barricades have not been moved. After four people were killed and another six injured in a UN operation exchange of fire with criminals in Cité Soleil in late January 2007, the United States announced that it would contribute $20 million to create jobs in Cité Soleil.[6][7]
In early February 2007, 700 UN troops flooded Cité Soleil resulting in a major gun battle. Although the troop make regular forcible entries into the area, a spokesperson said this one was the largest attempted so far by the UN troops.[8] On 28 July 2007, Edmond Mulet, the UN Special Representative in Haiti and MINUSTAH Mission Chief, warned of a sharp increase in lynchings and other mob attacks in Haiti. He said MINUSTAH, which now has 9,000 troops there, will launch a campaign to remind people lynchings are a crime.[9]
On 2 August 2007, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon arrived in Haiti due assess the role of the UN forces, announcing that he would visit Cité Soleil during his visit. He said that it was Haiti's largest slum and as such was the most important target for U.N. peace keepers in gaining control over the armed gangs. During his visit he announced an extension of the mandate of the UN forces in Haiti.[10]
President René Préval has expressed ambivalent feelings about the UN security presence, stating “if the Haitian people were asked if they wanted the UN forces to leave they would say yes.”[11]Survivors frequently blame the UN peace keepers for deaths of relatives.[12]
In April of 2008, Haiti was facing a severe food crisis as well as governmental destabilization to to Parliament's failure to ratify the president's choice of a prime minister. There were severe riots and the UN force fired rubber bullets in Port au Prince and the riot calmed.[13] The head of MINUSTAH has called for a new government to be chosen as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the UN is providing emergency food.[14]
United Nations reports and resolutions
On 23 February, 2004, the United Nations Security Council was convened at the request of CARICOM for the first time in four years to address the deteriorating situation in Haiti.[15]
On 29 February, 2004, the Security Council passed a resolution "taking note of the resignation of Jean-Bertrand Aristide as President of Haiti and the swearing-in of President Boniface Alexandre as the acting President of Haiti in accordance with the Constitution of Haiti" and authorized the immediate deployment of a Multinational Interim Force.[16]
On 30 April, 2004, MINUSTAH was established and given its mandate with a military component of up to 6,700 troops.[17]
In July the General Assembly authorized the financing of the mission with $200 million[18] which followed a donors' conference in Washington DC.[19]
The first progress report from MINUSTAH was released at the end of August.[20]
In September the interim president of Haiti, Boniface Alexandre, spoke to the United Nations General Assembly in support of MINUSTAH.[21]
In November there was a second report,[22] and the Security Council mandate for MINUSTAH.[23]
The mandate has most recently been extended by the Security Council until October 2008.[24]
Background
- See also: 2004 Haitian coup d'état
According to its mandate from the UN Security Council, MINUSTAH is required to concentrate the use of its resources, including civilian police, on increasing security and protection during the electoral period and to assist with the restoration and maintenance of the rule of law, public safety and public order in Haiti.[25] Critics argue that the mission's main purpose is to suppress popular opposition to the interim government and to give an impression of legitimacy to the imperialist agenda of France, Canada, and the U.S., the three countries responsible for orchestrating the overthrow of the Aristide government in 2004. MINUSTAH was established by UN Security Council Resolution 1542 on 30 April 2004 because the Security Council deemed the situation in Haiti to be a threat to international peace and security in the region.[26] In 2004, UN peacekeepers stormed Cité Soleil in an attempt to gain control of the area and end the anarchy.[27]
U.S. Marines patrol the streets of Port-au-Prince in March 2004.
In 2004, independent human rights organizations accused MINUSTAH and the Haitian National Police (HNP) of collaborating in numerous atrocities against civilians.[28][29][30] The UN, after repeatedly denying having taken the lives of any civilians, later admitted that civilians may have been killed, but argued that this was not intentional, and that it occurred as a by-product of their crackdown on what they call "gangs". They also said that the UN and MINUSTAH deeply regretted any loss of life during the operation.[31][32]
In early 2005, MINUSTAH force commander Lieutenant-General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira testified at a congressional commission in Brazil that "we are under extreme pressure from the international community to use violence,” citing Canada, France, and the United States.[33] Later in the year, he resigned, and on 1 September 2005, was replaced by General Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar as force commander of MINUSTAH. On 7 January 2006, Bacellar was found dead in his hotel room.[34] His interim replacement, Chilean General Eduardo Aldunate Hermann has been criticized for having been trained at the School of the Americas, and for having served in the brutal forces of Augusto Pinochet. In October 2005, the lawyer of the family of Carmelo Soria, a Spanish diplomat assassinated in 1976, lodged a request with the Chilean judicial system demanding that the General Eduardo Aldunate Herman be heard in the Soria case. According to former DINA agent Carlos Labarca Sanhueza's judicial testimony, General Herman was part of the Brigada Mulchén special DINA unit involved in Soria's assassination [35]. According to Carmelo Soria's daughter, General Herman was also involved in the assassination of DINA biochemist Eugenio Berrios, found dead in 1995 [35].
On 17 January 2006, it was announced that Brazilian General José Elito Carvalho de Siqueira would be the permanent replacement for Bacellar as the head of the United Nations' Haiti force.[36]
On 14 February 2006, in Security Council Resolution 1658, the United Nations Security Council extended MINUSTAH's mandate until 15 August 2006.[37]
MINUSTAH is also a precedent as the first mission in the region to be led by the Brazilian military, and almost entirely composed of, Latin American forces, particularly from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and Uruguay.[38] Since 1 September 2007, the mission has been led by Tunisian Hédi Annabi.[39]
6 July 2005 Incident
Chilean helicopter during the 2006 elections (Photo: Patrick André Perron)
On 6 July 2005, MINUSTAH carried out a raid in the Cité Soleil section of Port-au-Prince. MINUSTAH spokespeople claimed that the raid targeted a base of illegally armed rebels led by Dread Wilme. Reports from pro-Lavalas sources, as well as journalists such as Kevin Pina, contend that the raid targeted civilians and was an attempt to destroy the popular support for Haiti's exiled former leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, before scheduled upcoming elections.
Estimates on the number of fatalities range from five to as high as 80, with the higher numbers being claimed by those reporting that the raid targeted civilians. All sources agree that no MINUSTAH personnel were killed. All sources also agree that Dread Wilme (birthname "Emmanuel Wilmer") was killed in the raid. MINUSTAH spokespeople called Wilme a "gangster." Other sources, such as the pro-Aristide Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network call Wilme a community leader and a martyr.[40]
The incident became a focal point for groups who oppose the MINUSTAH occupation of Haiti and who support the return of President Aristide.[41] MINUSTAH has also been accused by opponents of standing by and allowing the Haitian National Police to commit atrocities and massacres against Lavalas supporters and Haitian citizens opposed to the current occupation.
On 6 January 2006, UN mission head Juan Gabriel Valdés announced that MINUSTAH forces would launch another raid on Cité Soleil. Dismissing fears by human rights groups that more civilians will be killed, Valdés said, "We are going to intervene in the coming days. I think there'll be collateral damage but we have to impose our force, there is no other way."[42]
Mission Composition
Map of MINUSTAH deployment in December 2006
Heads of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti:
Force commanders of the MINUSTAH military component:
- Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira, Brazil, 2004 to August 2005
- Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar, Brazil, September 2005 to January 2006.[46]
- Eduardo Aldunate Herman, Chile, January 2006 (interim appointment).
- José Elito Carvalho Siqueira, Brazil, January 2006 to January 2007.[47]
- Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz, Brazil, January 2007 to date.[48]
Countries contributing military personnel:
- Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Ecuador(an engineering company embedded in the Chilean force.), France, Guatemala, Jordan, Nepal, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Spain, Sri Lanka, United States, and Uruguay.[49]
Countries contributing police/civilian personnel:
- Argentina, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, DR Congo, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Grenada, Guinea, Jordan, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Senegal, Spain, Sri Lanka, Togo, Turkey, United States, and Uruguay.[49]
See also
Notes
References
External links
|
