Copyright 2007 Intelligence Research Ltd/All Rights Reserved/Caribbean & Central America Report
When the UN Security Council decided to send a peacekeeping force to Haiti in April 2004, shortly after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was bundled out of power, it made a long-term commitment to stay until the constitutional political process had been consolidated and a secure and stable environment returned to Haiti. Hence, the name of the force sent to Haiti: UN stabilisation mission (Minustah). That commitment is now being put to the test. While the elections that brought President René Préval to power in February 2006 were as clean as could be hoped, Minustah claims it needs at least another four years in which to fully stabilise Haiti and five years to train the security forces to assume control of public security.
The immediate priority is to ensure an extension beyond October, when Minustah's current mandate runs out. With that in mind, the Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, paid his first visit to Haiti in early August. Ban was met by Préval who appealed for troops to remain in Haiti. This is a viewpoint which by no means receives cross-party consensus. A number of legislators see the UN as an occupying force and want the Police Nationale d'Haïti (PNH) to take over security immediately.
Ban was driven to Cité Soleil, the slum city adjoining Port-au-Prince and the focal point of a major drive by Minustah, in conjunction with the PNH, against armed gangs to restore the rule of law. Ban promised to push for an extension of 12 months to Minustah's mandate, rather than the six-month spells it has been granted since 2004. This is likely to meet opposition on the Security Council. China has objected to awarding Minustah more than six months at a time. There is a strong suggestion that China hoped that by sending several contingents of riot police to Haiti it would create sufficient goodwill for Préval to implement a diplomatic realignment and switch Haiti's allegiance from Taiwan to China. This has not happened.
The Principal Deputy Special Representative in Haiti of the UN Secretary-General, Luiz Carlos da Costa, is arguing that the only way in which Minustah can be seen to fulfil its mandate is to "ensure a secure and stable environment within which the constitutional and political process in Haiti can take place". For that to happen troops must remain in Haiti until the next scheduled elections to guarantee a smooth transfer of power. Da Costa also insists that it will take five years to complete the "transformation" of the PNH, currently about 5,000 strong. As of 30 June, Minustah had a contingent of 1,760 police assisting in this task, apart from the 7,065 troops.
DEA goes after Philippe
Guy Philippe narrowly avoided capture by a task force comprising of DEA agents and members of the Bureau Haïtien de Lutte contre le Trafic de Stupéfiants (BLTS, the Haitian antidrugs agency) in mid July. Philippe, the leader of the armed revolt which toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004, has tried to remodel himself as a statesman and ran unsuccessfully for the presidency last year.
The raid on his house in the Bergeau district of Les Cayes on 16 July was part of an ongoing joint operation, created to target those suspected of being leading drug traffickers. Philippe was not at home.
President René Préval revealed that he had discussed the operations with DEA administrator Karen Tandy, who has been pressing for a US-Caribbean anti-drugs alliance since March. Philippe was stripped of his US entry visa in 2000 while he was investigated for his alleged involvement in the drugs trade in the late 1990s, when he was chief of police in Haiti's second city of Cap Haïtien.
Turks & Caicos
British investigators absolved the Turks and Caicos Islands police of blame for the deaths of at least 61 Haitians in a small boat that capsized just off the coast of the British dependency on 2 May. The Marine Accident Investigative Branch of the British government said there were no signs of collision damage on either the Haitian boat or the TCI police patrol vessel that went to meet it. Some 66 Haitians were rescued by the patrol boat which some of the survivors claimed had deliberately rammed the sloop.
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