ARTICLE - MINUSTAH - HAITIAN SECURITY FORCE

CURRENT POSITION OF THE MINUSTAH ON THE NEW NATIONAL SECURITY FORCE
(Haiti Libre) -

In an interview granted to the Associated Press on October 24, the Special Representative of the Minustah, Mr. Mariano Fernández, asked about the question whether, in the case where Haiti restores a security force, if the Minustah could support this force, he explained that the current mandate of the Minustah did not include a cooperation between the Minustah and an army.

Mr. Fernandez has also repeatedly, insisted that the creation of a security force or the restoration of the army in Haiti falls under a sovereign decision of Haiti.

Following this interview, Sylvie Van Den Wildenberg, spokesperson of the Minustah wished to clarify "...Haiti is a sovereign state and has absolutely and fully the right to recover a security force. It's a decision of the Haitian state. For your information, the Special Representative, Mr. Fernández has clearly stated several times, we do not have to comment on this issue....

The Special Representative said that if the Haitian government requested support support of the Minustah, regarding support for the training of the army, the support for the establishment of a security force, .... most likely it will be necessary that the Security Council intervenes and adjusts the mandate of the Mission, because for now, [...] if you read the resolution that established the mandate for the Mission, it has no support for an armed force, since there is no military force at this time in the country.

The mandate speaks of support of the Minustah to the police, state institutions, capacity building in the area of ​​rule of law and a bunch of other things, but does not mention the support to a formation of a security force [...] the question cannot be asked at the moment, because the security force does not exist.

The Haitian government has not formally made a request to the UN in this sense, said the Special Representative. Let us not be hypothetical, the question will be considered when the request will be made officially by the Haitian authorities to the UN. For now, we are at the reflection level. Internal discussions need to be made first. For now, we do not have a comment on this issue, which is a sovereign issue."

The presidential decree concerning the remobilization of the armed forces of Haiti, could be published before Novemeber 18, 2011, according to the statements made by Mr. Thierry Mayard Paul, the Minister of Interior, of Territorial Collectivities and National Defense, during the ceremony of his installation.