Haiti News

I haven't posted much on Haiti, but there has been some news lately - and very little of it is encouraging:

• Donors met in French Guiana last Friday to address the aid situation in Haiti and approved 380 rebuilding projects totaling some $1 billion.
• Two UN peacekeepers have been killed in fighting with rebel former soldiers.
• The entire UN Security Council will be visiting Haiti next month.

On the latter issue, here's the sole saving grace:

Representing the United States will be acting U.N. Ambassador Anne Patterson. A Patterson spokesman declined to comment on the trip.

God help them if John Bolton were going . . .

At least they are striking the right tone and sending the right message:

Brazilian Ambassador Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg, who holds the council's rotating presidency, said the trip is designed to promote security, stability and human rights and lay the groundwork for national elections set for late this year.

Haiti ''is a problem of our region. We really cannot miss this opportunity now, because now it is the last chance to help find a solution, a long-term solution. The United Nations cannot afford to have another crisis in Haiti in five years, in 10 years,'' Sardenberg told The Herald.

[...]

The trip's goals cover ''the whole agenda of Haiti, the economic, the social agenda, human rights,'' Sardenberg told The Herald at U.N. headquarters in New York City.

The success of the upcoming elections will center on the government's ability to make progress on national reconciliation, security and development, council members have said.

It's also important for them to remember that they are still dealing with the absolutely wretched Gerard Latortue, the man who has proclaimed the violent rebels, some of whom may have had ties to those who killed the peacekeepers, as freedom fighters and who has paid bribes to self-described former soldiers.

So I do find it heartening when I read this:

Recent council statements have called on the interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue to expedite all legal cases against Aristide government officials such as former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, who has been jailed for months without formal charges.

Sardenberg acknowledged that part of the U.N.'s problems in Haiti arose from the attention demanded by other crisis around the world, such as the Sudan civil war and the Indian Ocean tsunami.

''There is competition (for U.N. resources) from different operations, there are 18 currently and so it is only natural that some attention is diverted to different issues every week,'' he said.  "So it is important to keep Haiti on the agenda of the council. The effort for Haiti must be seen as a long-term one.'' [my emphasis]

Not merely "seen," but must, in fact, be a long-term effort.