Top U.N. Haiti envoy seeks long-term help

Wednesday, March 31, 2004

UNITED NATIONS (UPI): U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special adviser on Haiti Tuesday called for a long-term international presence of some 20 years in the Caribbean nation.

Reginald Dumas emerged from a closed-door briefing of the U.N. Security Council to tell reporters ownership of reconstruction programs must be in the hands of Haitians as the island nation recovers from a series of reverses.

"We cannot continue ... with the stop-start cycle that has characterized relations between the international community and Haiti," Dumas said.

There have been 10 separate or joint missions by the United Nations and the Organization of American States since 1994. He said they would spend a year or two, without necessarily involving local people in their work and with no continuity after the missions left.

During a recent 10-day visit to Port-au-Prince, Dumas said health care, education, human rights, justice and police institutions had virtually collapsed and would require a massive and sustained effort on the part of the international community to restore.

  Back...

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version