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MINUSTAH MANDATE EXTENDED IN HAITI, RECOGNIZES RISKS OF PREMATURE WITHDRAWAL.

Article Excerpt
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will recommend that the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, stay in the country for at least another year. During a first-time visit to the country in early August, Ban credited the mission and its 8,800-member armed force with restoring security and said that President Rene Preval still needs the mission. Preval has requested the extension. Standing at Preval's side, Ban told reporters, "The international community must not step aside and let spoilers jeopardize Haiti's progress."

Preval has backed the force as it has cracked down fiercely on armed gangs, a crackdown that has led to reported dramatic reductions in violence in the slums of Port-au-Prince. Ban noted that the situation was fragile and UN forces had been sent to Haiti five times in the past, so he would ask the Security Council for a 12-month extension of the mandate that expires in October.

Preval called upon citizens not to oppose the continuation of the mission. "The population has benefited from the presence of MINUSTAH," he said. "What is good for the country is for the UN to help us reinforce our police and our security. As time goes on, we'll evaluate what form this assistance should take and how long it should last."

The one-year extension is likely more a waypoint than an endpoint. In July, UN special representative Luis Carlos da Costa said the mission, which already in February was extended to October, should remain for a "minimum of four years," through the "transfer of power from the current government to the next."

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