5 January 2010 –The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) is helping the impoverished Caribbean country prepare for upcoming legislative elections, providing secondary support in logistics, security and raising public awareness while leaving the primary organizing role to the national authorities.
“It is the responsibility of the Haitian authorities to organize good elections,” Marco Donati, the senor UN official in the southern region told a recent meeting in Les Cayes to encourage the local youth to participate in the polls. “MINUSTAH is merely playing a secondary role in the elections.”
The mission is also helping the authorities to maintain a stable political atmosphere conducive to electing the country’s legislators, he added.
MINUSTAH has been on the ground in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, since mid-2004 after then president Jean-Bertrand Aristide went into exile amid violent unrest. Currently there are more than 9,000 military and police personnel deployed and nearly 2,000 civilian staff.
The mission plays a multi-faceted role, ranging from helping to re-establish security in conjunction with the national police force to humanitarian aid and improvement of infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
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COMMENT: HAITIAN-TRUTH.ORG
The fact that the UN continues to support the predictably fraudulent election in February has the Haitian population seeing MINUSTAH as responsible for Preval’s ongoing criminality and indifference . Suggesting it is up to Haitians to organize the elections is not taken seriously by the people. They saw organized elections, for the presidency, stolen, not by Preval, but by MINUSTAH who declared he had 51 percent, when he only managed 23 percent. MINUSTAH is the father and mother of the Preval disaster!
If there was any justice in Haiti, Preval and his associates would have been thrown out.
True justice would see them jailed!
MINUSTAH holds them in place.
The chickens will come home to roost, in the near future, as the nation finally implodes/explodes. Much of the anger will focus upon the MINUSTAH establishment and some United Nations people will likely be killed during the predictable unpleasantness.
The cynic Preval is counting on this as part of his agenda!
International community totally responsible for Haiti’s present state. Interfered in 1991, and again,and,again, and again. If things not there way they bloc. Things good for Haiti- they also bloc. Little hope in Fevrier. Less hope Novembre.