ARTICLE - CHILE TO WITHDRAW UN TROOPS

CHILE TO WITHDRAW UN MISSION TROOPS FROM HAITI
(Santiago Times) - By Juan Francisco Veloso Olguin

The gradual withdrawal is expected to begin in 2012, with the last troops gone by 2016.

Defense Minister Andrés Allamand announced Tuesday Chile’s intention to withdraw all troops from Haiti by 2016. Chilean troops have been on the ground in the devastated Caribbean nation since 2004 as part of the ongoing United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

Troops associated with MINUSTAH first arrived in Haiti following the 2004 coup d’etat that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and threw the country into political turmoil.

The situation worsened following the January 2010 earthquake that killed 300,000 and left many more homeless. In the aftermath, an outbreak of cholera resulted in 7,000 further deaths.

MINUSTAH currently counts a total of 12,438 uniformed personnel among its forces, with 8,915 troops from 19 nations, and 3,637 police from 50 countries. The Mission’s staff is rounded out by 572 international civilian personnel, 1,345 local personnel and 238 UN volunteers.

According to Allamand, the Chilean government has developed its proposed exit strategy for the first half of 2016 for review and analysis by the South American Defense Council.

Chile is not the first nation to consider reducing its role in the MINUSTAH mission. Earlier this year Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim also expressed his wish to begin the gradual removal of his nation’s 2,200 troops from Haiti.

The UN Security Council has also approved a proposal to reduce the total number of troops for MINUSTAH by 2,700 due to improvements in the situation on the ground.

Earlier this year, the president of Chile’s right-wing Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party, Juan Antonio Coloma, called the campaign “a lost cause.” Allamand, on the other hand, has said that Chile’s continued presence in the region “reflects the obligation that the country has in maintaining stability in this part of the world.”

The new proposal contradicts previous legislative action by the Chilean government wherein the senate accepted a petition from the Haitian government to extend Chile’s presence in the country by another year.