ARTICLE - MARTELLY SPEAKS OF MINUSTAH

MARTELLY SPEAKS OF MINUSTAH
(Haiti Libre) -

On the sidelines of the 66th UN General Assembly, Michel Martelly, the President of Haiti, made ​​a statement about the United Nations Mission for Stabilization in Haiti (Minustah), explaining the three problems that Haiti has with this mission.

"...I can say that there are two hot issues in the case of the Minustah. First, the presence as such of Minustah. Secondly, the problem of cholera; and thirdly, the problem at Port Salut where they molested a young Haitian.

The first problem is ... the mandate of Minustah. It is a necessity for the country, because, today it's the force of the Minustah that can control the population if there is a riot. They can intervene if there is another earthquake. Therefore, it is necessary that the Minustah is present. The Minustah knows that it is not there to stay indefinitely. It is a mission, but for that the mission be a success it is necessary that the Minustah leaves. For that, it is necessary that we, ourselves (Haitian leadership) allow it to leave. What does that mean? We must come up with a force that can replace the MINUSTAH, which can do the work of the Minustah. Why doesn't the MINUSTAH go?... Because the Haitian leadership has never put a force in place to do the work of the Minustah when it leaves. Today, we have begun. We have already presented our plan to friends and partners of Haiti, to the different embassies and to the MINUSTAH; where we discussed the doctrine of this force, the quantity of people, the objectives , and the budget. This is important because we do not want to go down a road abd later hear that our partners do not agree with what we do.

We have addressed these issues with the Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, and other issues that we have addressed are issues of cholera, where we do not want to enter into the principle of accusing one or the other; especially since there is not a final report that says it is a specific person who brought the cholera [...]

[...] Cholera remains a problem in Haiti, why not guide the discussions in the sense where they can helps us to manage it. You have the means, you are the United Nations, you have the technical and financial resources, so now manage it, that's how we address the problems.

The third problem is the boy that was molested. I honestly explained to Mr. Ban Ki moon the current fragility of the Minustah on the ground in Haiti. In one day there were twelve demonstrations against the MINUSTAH. They were not violent, but nevertheless there were twelve demonstrations, perhaps organized by hands behind the scenes [...] so I made the Secretary General to understand the necessity of bringing the people involved to justice. The leader of the contingent has been revoked and the soldiers responsible for the act are currently in isolation. We also asked the Secretary General to follow the case so that justice is done..."