Global Policy Forum

By Barbara Crossette

United Nations - Faced with the almost-certain withdrawal of a U.N. police mission from Haiti in November, just before national elections are scheduled to take place, diplomats are searching for alternative ways to help the Haitian government avoid another descent into political violence. The most likely first step would be to move the Haitian issue out of the Security Council, to avoid a Chinese veto or other opposition, and into the General Assembly, injecting some urgency into its work.

Western diplomats see this as an interesting and innovative test case for the United Nations in an era where the implosions of government seem more frequent, but not all situations rise to a level demanding international peacekeeping operations. "The security situation in Haiti remains a matter of concern," Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a report to the Security Council on Wednesday. There are fears, he said, that withdrawing the international civilian police mission, which now has 279 officers from 10 countries in Haiti, might undermine stability "at a particularly sensitive stage." Under a Security Council resolution that expires in November, foreign officers have been training the Haitian National Police, an organization accused by a range of Haitian political parties of killings and torture of people in custody. One of those accusations is the killing in May of 11 detainees at Carrefour-Feuilles, an outlying neighborhood of the capital, Port-au-Prince. The Haitian police also appear to be involved in drug-trafficking, the secretary-general's report said.

More broadly, Annan wrote, the Haitian government is unable to build strong political institutions or even provide public services because of political discord. President Rene Preval -- who succeeded Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the overthrown leader restored to power by the United States -- dissolved the Parliament in January because it would not accept any of his nominees for prime minister. That job was then given to Jacques Edouard Alexis, whom opposition parties consider an illegitimate prime minister because he was appointed without parliamentary approval. National legislative elections are planned for the end of this year, and an elected government, with a new Parliament, has been promised by Jan. 10. The Security Council mandate runs out just before the voting is scheduled to begin. And to further complicate the situation and make it more dangerous, the United States is reported to be planning to begin withdrawing 480 American troops stationed in Haiti.

In order to avoid leaving Haiti in a lurch, the six countries that call themselves "friends of Haiti" here -- the United States, France, Canada, Venezuela, Chile and Argentina -- want to move the Haitian issue out of the Security Council, where China has always opposed operations in Haiti because Aristide has ties with Taiwan. Diplomats say that a renewal of the Security Council mandate is virtually impossible, unless the Haitian elections are postponed as some expect, and a short extension is approved. But this would be considered at best a stop-gap measure, and Western diplomats would prefer to adopt a different approach.

In July, working through the Economic and Social Council, a U.N. panel that is now being revived to deal with an age of collapsed governments and moribund economies, the six nations proposed a new way of aiding Haiti within the U.N. system. "We are opening the door to a new type of mission in Haiti, which would pursue the work of the U.N. without a Security Council resolution," said Michel Duval, Canada's deputy chief representative." A General Assembly resolution is being written with the help of the Haitians that will preserve the coordinating role of a special representative of the secretary-general, enhance the work of the U.N. Development Program, ensure a continuing civilian police advisory group and promote human rights, an area that has been left largely to the Organization of American States.

"The U.N. mission would be smaller than it is now," said Duval "It would not be a peacekeeping mission. We could call it a peace-building mission, a stabilization mission." "The need is to be able to have a follow-on mission starting at the beginning of December," he said. "We are working with the secretariat to ensure that there would be no artificial cut between the two missions." American diplomats are also enthusiastic. "This is actually the first test case of whether or not you can have a seamless transition from a peacekeeping operation to a long-term development program," said Nancy Soderberg, the American envoy working on this issue. "It's the first time we've attempted to do a transition like this. It has broad support."