By IPS Correspondents
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 3 2006 (IPS)

Faced with a rising tide of violence, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan paid a visit Thursday to Haiti, where he announced that the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) will seek to extend its mandate in this this impoverished Caribbean nation for another 12 months and request reinforcements at a UN Security Council meeting in New York next week.

Speaking alongside Haiti’s President René Préval at the National Palace in the capital, with the location ringed by Jordanian peacekeepers, Annan said that “impunity will not be allowed to stand” in Haiti, despite the insecurity that has been endemic in the country in recent weeks.

“We have achieved a lot together in our partnership, but much more needs to be done,” Annan said, adding that he had requested that the UN Security Council extend MINUSTAH’s mission for 12 months as opposed to the standard six months, and that he would ask for additional police trainers to aid the Police Nationale d’Haiti (PNH) in reforming an institution that has struggled with charges of corruption and brutality, as well as attempts to politicise it by various political actors in the country. “We are determined to work with the government to end the problem (of insecurity).”

“The Haitian people are very pleased to welcome the Secretary General to Haiti,” said Préval, addressing the audience of foreign dignitaries, government officials and journalists in Haiti’s Creole language. “The situation is not easy, but with the support of the United Nations, we will move forward. Of all our problems, the problem of security, from which everyone suffers, is paramount.”

The UN peacekeeping mission – whose current strength, following the departure of a contingent of Jordanian troops, stands at around 6,500 troops and 1,500 police – has come under criticism for inaction as a wave of crime and killings has shaken this country of eight million, and in particular Port-au-Prince, following a spell of relative calm following the election in February of Préval, who previously served as Haiti’s president from 1996 until 2001.

MINUSTAH took over peacekeeping duties in Haiti from a U.S.-led Multinational Interim Force (MIF) in June 2004, following the February 2004 ouster of Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide amidst an armed revolt and street protests against his rule.

MINUSTAH’s head diplomat in Haiti told IPS the mission would seek additional specialised troops to deal with specific problem areas.

“We are requesting additional reinforcement with specialised units against kidnapping and units like SWAT teams also, so we will be better prepared to support the PNH forces,” MINUSTAH mission chief Edmond Mulet told IPS. The new forces would likely include about 100 each of anti-kidnapping and SWAT (Specialised Weapons and Tactics) personnel, Mulet said.

“The mandate for MINUSTAH is to stabilise the country, and the ones who are destabilising the country are the kidnappers and the gang leaders…also supported by political interests, by drug traffickers and by people who would prefer to have impunity in this country,” Mulet said. “The mandate for MINUSTAH starting in August, hopefully, will focus more on establishing the rule of law.”

Speaking to private Radio Metropole last week, Préval’s Prime Minister, Jacques Edouard Alexis, stated that Haiti’s government was prepared “to use any means necessary so that law and order are respected throughout the entire country.”

Kidnappings in the Haitian capital spiked from 39 people in June to 61 persons seized by criminals over the month of July, the UN’s anti-kidnapping task force said.

MINUSTAH is the latest in a series of UN missions in the country over the last 15 years. In September 1993, at the height of a military dictatorship that had ousted Aristide during his first term as Haiti’s president, the United Nations Mission in Haiti (UNMIH) was formed to help implement the provisions of an accord reached by the two parties at Governors Island in New York in July of that year.

In 1996, the mission was transformed into the United Nations Support Mission in Haiti (UNSMIH) which last until 1997 attempting to reinforce Haiti’s nascent democratic institutions. Two other UN mission followed, ending in 2000.

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