ARTICLE - MARTELLY - IT'S THEIR OPINION

'IT'S THEIR OPINION' SAID MARTELLY
(Haiti Libre) -

Yesterday the President of the Republic, Michel Martelly reacted to the statements of a senior administration official from the United States suggesting that, "...the way forward is really to focus on the Haitian National Police and their being able to get stronger and larger and more capable at doing their jobs..." instead of creating an army. He responded simply,... "It's their opinion", adding that "...Unfortunately they have not professionalized the PNH with the millions of dollars that goes to the UN mission in Haiti..."

It is important to remember that President Martelly in his plan "Policy of Defence and National Security" relies on the support of the Minustah to train his army. "The implementation plan takes into account the potential contributions of the Minustah for its participation in the training of recruits and the availability of their bases for training and practice..."

For his part, Mario Andrésol Director General of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) indicated that there are "30,000 young people on a waiting list and I can not recruit them into the national police because of alack of means [...] In the last two budgets, I had zero ... for training..."