UN chief urges nations to consider deploying forces to help Haiti
In this photo taken January 15, 2010, United Nations peacekeeping forces from the United Nations Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) stand guard during a patrol in Cite Soleil, Haiti. (UN Photo by Charles Dharapak/Courtesy of the U.S. Army)
In this photo taken January 15, 2010, United Nations peacekeeping forces from the United Nations Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) stand guard during a patrol in Cite Soleil, Haiti. (UN Photo by Charles Dharapak/Courtesy of the U.S. Army)
WASHINGTON – The U.S. has begun discussing plans to help the people of Haiti, the top U.N. official said on Tuesday, urging the world to think about deploying military forces to the Caribbean nation.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a gathering of U.N. officials that sending military supplies and troops to Haiti would be a humanitarian response that could show that a U.N.-led international peacekeeping force could effectively combat a powerful insurgency.
“The United Nations is ready to take on a leadership role,” Ban told a security conference in the U.S. capital of which several senior UN officials were present.
“The United Nations is ready to look at what we can do to help Haiti. Whether it’s sending soldiers or providing humanitarian assistance to this region,” Ban said. “We have the experience to provide a meaningful response.”
For years the U.N. peacekeeping forces deployed to Haiti from its base in the Dominican Republic have been accused of doing little to combat what has become the world’s deadliest country this century, ravaged by four major earthquakes.
Ban, who has been visiting the country several times, said he believes Haiti remains the most complex emergency in the world and faces an insurgency as well as an earthquake and economic and social crisis.
The Haitian government has been accused by the United Nations and rights and humanitarian groups of failing to protect the country’s 1.8 million people from rebel attacks, corruption and environmental damage in a country that U.N. agencies estimate holds about the same amount of land as the U.S.
Ban said he would discuss sending troops to Haiti when he meets again with the Haitian president, Jovenel Moise, in Haiti on