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Haiti
Multinational force has U.N. backing
By wire services
Published March 1, 2004
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Sunday to authorize the immediate deployment of an international military force to Haiti for three months to restore order.
The resolution stated that "the situation in Haiti constitutes a threat to international peace and security and to stability in the Caribbean, especially through the potential outflow of people to other states in the subregion."
The resolution gives U.N. authorization to troops from countries like the United States, France and Canada that have announced their intention to send soldiers right away.
It also calls on the secretary-general to decide within the next 30 days on the size, structure and mandate of a longer-term U.N. force.
President Bush on Sunday ordered a contingent of Marines to Haiti, to join the 50 already in Port-au-Prince guarding the U.S. Embassy.
The Marines assembled an "air-ground task force" of several hundred troops, built around elements of an infantry battalion based at Camp Lejeune, N.C. The decision to send them by air rather than a slower sea deployment was made after Aristide fled Haiti.
One of the Marine task force's first missions was to help the U.S. Coast Guard repatriate Haitian migrants who are on Coast Guard vessels. The task force has the flexibility to switch from humanitarian to security missions, several defense officials told the Associated Press.
Among the duties of the interim force would be securing and stabilizing the country, getting relief aid and international workers to Haitians and committing the United Nations to helping the local police maintain public safety and order and to protect human rights.
In Paris, France's Defense Ministry said Sunday that France would be sending some 300 troops, to be followed by 100 police officers, to Haiti overnight to ensure the security of the French embassy and French citizens. A spokesman said they would be dispatched from France's overseas departments in the Caribbean, Martinique, Guadeloupe and Guyane.
About 50 Canadian soldiers were providing security at the airport in Port-au-Prince international airport Sunday, assisting a Hercules transport to fly Canadians out of the country to the Dominican Republic. About 120 troops were standing by in Trenton, Ontario, to be dispatched to the country.
- Information from the New York Times and Associated Press was used in this report.
[Last modified March 1, 2004, 01:31:03]
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