Annan's adviser recommends long-term UN presence in Haiti

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Annan's adviser recommends long-term UN presence in Haiti

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United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special adviser on Haiti called on Tuesday for a long-term international presence of some 20 years in the conflict-ridden Caribbean country as it recovered from a series of reverses.

"We cannot continue, I said to the (Security) Council this morning, with the stop-start cycle that has characterized relations between the international community and Haiti," Special Adviser Reginald Dumas told reporters after he briefed the Security Council in a closed meeting.

Since 1994, 10 separate and joint missions by the United Nations and the Organization of American States have spent a year or two, without necessarily involving local people in their work, and there would be no continuity after the missions left, he said.

During a recent 10-day visit to Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince,Dumas said he saw that the 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.

A long-term commitment would last for a period of not less than20 years, he said, whether that period would be acceptable to the international community or not. He noted that Annan had suggested a commitment of 10 years "or more."

Dumas was appointed to his current post in February when the Haitian rebels stepped up their efforts to force then President Jean Bertrand Aristide to step down. Aristide resigned and went into exile abroad at the end of that month. The Security Council has ordered the creation of a UN peacekeeping mission for Haiti inJune.

Source: Xinhua

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