United Nations

Return to Port-au-Prince: "All the Time We are Hungry and Now We Have No One"

Anthony — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:05:03 -0400

http://www.counterpunch.org/terrall08282008.html
Counterpunch.com
August 28, 2008
"All the Time We are Hungry and Now We Have No One"
Return to Port-au-Prince
By BEN TERRALL

As I flew from JFK to Port-au-Prince Airport on August 11, a fellow journalist handed me the front section of that day’s New York Times with a laugh. My friend pointed to a passage in an article about Russia’s war with Georgia that had prompted her bitter chuckling.

The piece quoted Ambassador Zalmay Khalizad of the United States, who charged that the Russian foreign minister had told Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice “that the democratically elected president of Georgia ‘must go.’” Khalizad described the Russian’s comment as “completely unacceptable.”

Of course, Washington’s posturing as a beacon of peace and freedom has become increasingly more ludicrous as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue with no end in sight and Bush explains that we do not torture while testimony to the contrary accumulates around the globe. But the U.S. role in supporting the February 29, 2004 rightist coup in Haiti makes the hypocrisy of Khalizad’s statement especially galling.

Haiti: Aristide and the removal of Alexis

Anthony — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:46:10 -0400

ttp://www.haitiaction.net/News/HIP/4_13_8/4_13_8.html
HIP - Port au Prince, Haiti — The situation in Haiti was thrown into further confusion on April 12 as the Haitian parliament passed a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis. Led by rightists in Haiti's parliament such as Senators Youri Latortue, Adris Riche and renegade Lavalas party Senator Roudy Herveaux , the vote of censure was passed on April 12, 2008 at 11:55 am EST.
President Rene Garcia Preval, following controversial U.N.-sponsored elections in 2006, appointed Alexis as Prime Minister. Alexis served for an administration touted as a coalition government backed by the United States and the international community that included members of the so-called opposition that forced former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile in 2004. Alexis' administration gave the final appearance of a legal veneer to the ouster of Aristide and his political movement known as Lavalas by co-opting former grass-roots leaders into his government.

UN Occupiers Accused of Human Rights Violations in Haiti

Anthony — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:21:07 -0500

UN Troops Accused of Human Rights Violations in Haiti
by Maria Luisa Mendonça | January 21, 2008
Americas Program, Center for International Policy (CIP)
http://americas.irc-online.org/
The UN Security Council decided in October 2007 to extend the mandate of the MINUSTAH (United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti) through Oct. 15, 2008. The Brazilian Government is responsible for coordinating the MINUSTAH forces that include approximately 9,000 troops. Yet there is very little discussion in Brazil about the country's role in the occupation of Haiti, and especially, about the accusations leveled against the UN troops for their participation in human rights violations.

This Week in Haiti: Peter Hallward: MAKING SENSE OF THE 2004 COUP

Anthony — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 20:48:17 -0500

HAITI LIBERTE - "Justice. Verite. Independance."
* THIS WEEK IN HAITI *
December 19-24, 2007
Vol. 1, No. 22
AN INTERVIEW ON WBAI
PETER HALLWARD: MAKING SENSE OF THE 2004 COUP

Did He Jump or Was He Pushed? Aristide and the 2004 Coup in Haiti

Anthony — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 16:01:38 -0500

Did He Jump or Was He Pushed? Aristide and the 2004 Coup in Haiti
by Peter Hallward
December 15, 2007
haitianalysis.com

Haiti: Another Occupation Extension Looms

Anthony — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 20:30:11 -0400

HAITI LIBERTE
"Justice. Verite. Independence."
* THIS WEEK IN HAITI *
September 5-11, 2007
Vol. 1, No. 7
ANOTHER OCCUPATION EXTENSION LOOMS
by Kim Ives
The United Nations Security Council mandate for the UN's military occupation of Haiti runs out on October 15, 2007. Now the UN has cranked up its public relations machinery, generating a flurry of conferences, declarations, and appointments, all aimed at selling the longest possible mandate extension to the Haitian and world public.
The campaign to prolong the occupation was kicked off by none other than Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General, during a visit to Haiti on Aug. 2 (see Haiti Liberte, Vol. 1, No. 3, Aug. 8, 2007). During his visit, he declared that the United Nations Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH) "will not leave until Haiti's future is assured," saying that would require "at least another year."

Union launches call for general strike in Haiti

Anthony — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:56:55 -0400

Union launches call for general strike in Haiti
By Roger Annis
PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI--At a press conference here on August 17, one of Haiti's transport unions, the Association des propriétaires et chaffeurs d'Haiti (APCH—Association of Owners and Drivers of Haiti), launched an appeal for unions and popular organizations to hold a two-day, country-wide general strike to protest the disastrous economic situation facing working people in this country.
In an interview following the press conference, the communications director of the union, Fortune Patrice, explained that the initial appeal is supported by many trade unions, student organizations and other popular movements. The union will hold discussions with more unions and popular organizations in the coming week to broaden support for the strike, set for August 27 and 28.

Haiti: Minustah head announces changes in its composition, requests patience

Anthony — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:42:00 -0400

BBC Worldwide Monitoring
October 7, 2004, Thursday
Haiti: Minustah head announces changes in its composition, requests patience
Radio Metropole, Port-au-Prince, in French 1700 gmt 6 Oct 04
Text of report from the "Midday News" broadcast by Haitian Metropole radio on 6 October

The commander of the Minustah UN Mission for Stabilization in Haiti troops has issued a call for the Haitian people to show patience in the face of the acts of violence that are affecting people in the metropolitan area.

UN Arrested 40 Ahead of Harper's Haiti Visit

Anthony — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 15:33:44 -0400

UN Arrested 40 Ahead of Harper's Haiti Visit
Many demonstrators remain in jail
by Stuart Neatby
The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca
Forty Haitian demonstrators were arrested by UN soldiers hours before the arrival of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Haitian slum neighbourhood of Cite Soleil on July 20. Haiti was the last stop for the Prime Minister's Latin American tour, which also included stops in Colombia, Chile, and Barbados. The protest had been organized by residents of Cite Soleil in response to the visit of the Canadian Prime Minister, according to Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine, a protest organizer and director of the Haiti-based September 30th Foundation.

Canadian Ambassador appeals for more deadly operations in Haiti

Anthony — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:54:23 -0500

Ambassador appeals for more deadly operations
"They came here to terrorize the population.” — Rose Martel, a resident of Cité Soleil, Haiti, December 22 2006."
by Kevin Skerrett
January 31, 2007
Rabble.ca
Canada's ambassador to Haiti, Claude Boucher, demonstrated a remarkable indifference to Haitian suffering two weeks ago.
In a January 15 interview with Haiti's Radio Solidarite, Boucher offered unrestrained praise for the UN military forces currently occupying Haiti (identified by the French acronym MINUSTAH), and urged them to "increase their operations as they did last December." These forces have operated in Haiti with Canadian backing since shortly after Haiti's elected government was overthrown in a coup d'etat in February 2004.