ARTICLE - UN - HNP TO PROVIDE SECURITY

HAITI TO TAKE OVER SECURITY MANAGEMENT: UN OFFICIAL
(Crienglish) - By Xinhua

The representative of the UN Secretary General in Haiti, Mariano Fernandez, told Xinhua that the country is ready to assume the management of safety through its own police force.

"Security has improved greatly, and political violence has disappeared," said the head of the UN Mission for Stabilization in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

Fernandez added that the multinational force has made a "quiet work" in Haiti, where 4,000 troops are patrolling major cities at night to ensure safety.

Haitian National Police has fewer than 10,000 troops for a population of 10 million inhabitants.

MINUSTAH was established on June 1, 2004 by the UN Security Council. The agency organized Multinational Interim Force authorized by the world body in February 2004, after the exile of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide.

Fernandez said in an interview with Xinhua that MINUSTAH is currently working with the Haitian authorities in strengthening the police forces. The Haitians will take over the security management when the mission expires in July.

Crime surged in Haiti in 2011, leading to the loss of 31 police troops.

"You can not deny that the police has done much to ensure the security and has arrested several criminals," deputy police spokesman Garry Desrosiers told Xinhua.

Desrosiers said that in the last month of 2011, 27 people died compared with 91 deaths in 2010, and the police managed to capture 55 dangerous criminals through an operation called "Operaton Dragon".

Desrosiers added that the new strategy of the institution is based on the establishment of "community policing", closely linked to the population.

In early November 2011, Haitian President Michel Martelly Andresol promised to strengthen the institution by improving the working conditions of the agents.