November 29, 2000
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has recommended that the UN mission in Haiti should end when its current mandate expires next February. In a report to the Security Council, Mr Annan said the present climate of instability made it inadvisable to extend the mission's term.
The report comes amid the continued counting of votes from Sunday's presidential election, which the former president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is widely assumed to have won.
The secretary-general said the failure of the Haitian authorities to address concerns about democracy and human rights had prevented the country regaining international financial assistance.
'Pariah status'
The UN has almost 70 officials in Haiti assisting the police and judiciary, as well as advising on human rights matters. But Mr Annan said their jobs had been severely limited by rampant crime, street protests and violence. Their role has also been restricted by the domestic political stalemate between supporters of Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the Haitian opposition.
The BBC's UN correspondent, Mark Devenport, says the report paints an alarming picture of a country mired in political turmoil and sliding further into poverty. Mr Annan refers at one point to what he describes as Haiti's pariah status, and says firm action is needed to stop the downward spiral.
Aid
The UN chief said talks had begun among donor governments, the UN Development Programme and others about setting up a scheme "commensurate with the country's political realities and absorption capacity."
The UN is not the only body to question the democratic record of the authorities. The Organisation of American States has complained that the election went ahead with problems identified during legislative elections in May still not rectified. In Washington, a State Department spokesman said low voter turnout and pre-election violence indicated a strong need for social reconciliation.
Aid was frozen after irregularities surfaced in May's elections, and diplomats had made it clear that international recognition of Mr Aristide's government and the resumption of aid would depend on voter turnout.
Officials estimate that 68% of the electorate took part in the presidential election, though this has been disputed by the opposition - which boycotted the poll - as well as by independent observers.
Mr Aristide, a charismatic former priest from the slums regarded as a hero by the urban poor, ended up standing against several virtually unknown candidates who did not even bother to campaign.
