The New York Times

Tuesday, November 30, 1999

U.N. Police in Haiti Through March

By The Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The Security Council voted Tuesday to keep U.N. civilian police in Haiti until March 15, when the United Nations is expected to start a new mission to help the nation strengthen its democracy.

The U.N. police were sent to Haiti in 1997 to train the Haitian national police force, which was established in 1995 to replace a corrupt army that killed as many as 4,000 civilians.

Later this week, the General Assembly is expected to approve a new, yearlong operation for Haiti that would start in March, covering judicial reform, human rights and civilian police. It would work in tandem with a recently approved, long-term development and international assistance program for Haiti.

Deputy U.S. Ambassador Nancy Soderberg said the judicial element of the new mission was crucial since progress in that area had lagged behind the rapid progress in training the police.

``The flaws in the administration of justice present a long-term threat to the protection of basic human rights of the Haitian people,'' she said.

The transition to a new mission comes at a delicate time for Haiti, which has scheduled legislative elections for March that many hope will end more than two years of political crisis.

Prime Minister Rosny Smarth resigned in 1997 to protest what he said was President Rene Preval's complicity in tainted legislative elections. In a bid to end the crisis, Preval shut down Parliament in January and appointed a new prime minister and elections council by decree.

The crisis has prevented millions of dollars in foreign aid from reaching Haiti and weakened investor confidence.

Haiti's U.N. ambassador, Pierre Lelong, thanked the council and the civilian police for their work to rebuild the country and train its police. ``However, the job is far from over, the battle for democracy is not yet won,'' he said.

He repeated Preval's request that the new mission have civilian police that are not uniformed and unarmed.

Russia abstained from the vote, arguing Haiti hadn't formally requested an extension to the mission.