UN chief appoints new head of Haiti mission

The Sacramento BEE:

UNITED NATIONS — Chile’s former foreign minister is the new U.N. envoy to Haiti.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced Monday that Mariano Fernandez will replace Edmond Mulet as head of the seven-year-old international peacekeeping force at the end of May.

Mulet took the job after his predecessor, Hedi Annabi, died in the 2010 earthquake.

Fernandez inherits a military force of more than 12,000 soldiers and police that has come under increasing criticism as the Caribbean nation struggles to rebuild.

A U.N. panel recently acknowledged after months of denials that its troops likely introduced the cholera bacteria that has killed nearly 5,000 Haitians.

Just-inaugurated President Michel Martelly wants to build a new Haitian Army to replace the foreign force.

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