In his first appearance at the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, Haitian President Michel Martelly finds himself stepping onto the world stage at a time when relations between Haiti and the global body are particularly delicate.
Back home in quake-ravaged Haiti, an alleged rape scandal
now involving five Uruguayan peacekeepers has renewed small but violent
protests calling for all U.N. peacekeepers to leave. The mission that was
supposed to bring peace is accused of bringing a deadly cholera epidemic and
critics charge it has fallen short of its goal of helping the weak Haitian
National Police keep criminality down and Haiti's borders free from illicit
trafficking.
To add fuel to the fire, Haiti's Senate passed a
resolution Tuesday demanding the withdrawal of the U.N. Stabilization Mission
in Haiti, known by its French acronym MINUSTAH, over the next three years.
Martelly, who campaigned on a promise to get rid of the
peacekeeping force, has tried to calm things down.
Amid rock throwing last week and nationalistic rhetoric
over peacekeepers being an "occupying force," he told Haitians,
"MINUSTAH should not be cornered." Still, he has seized on the
public's mounting dissatisfaction to push another campaign promise, creating a
second security force - a new army.
The contradictory options have everyone wondering what
Martelly will say when he addresses U.N. leaders in New York. Also of concern
is a future roadmap for Haiti's stabilization as Martelly marks 132 days into
his mandate with no functioning government.
In recent days the final steps in the confirmation of
Martelly's prime minister pick, Dr. Garry Conille, have been plagued with
uncertainty.
"(Martelly) is in a very difficult position,"
said Robert Fatton, a Haiti expert at the University of Virginia. "On the
one hand, MINUSTAH is so unpopular that he needs to distance himself from it.
On the other hand, there is no viable replacement for the U.N. at the moment.
... I do not know if he can navigate these waters easily."
On Monday, Martelly and U.N. Secretary General Ban
Ki-Moon met to discuss the peacekeeping force's future. Ban acknowledged it's
time to begin thinking of a gradual drawdown of the 8,700 soldiers and 3,500
police deployed in Haiti. He also informed Martelly of his support for a
reduction to pre-earthquake levels, according to a U.N. communique.
While those sentiments were welcomed by Martelly, Haiti
faces the same challenges today as it did seven years ago when peacekeepers
arrived to stabilize a nation in political chaos following the ouster of
then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
"There is no question that if Haitians felt their
Haitian National Police was capable of providing full security and safety, they
would want to see MINUSTAH leave quickly," said Mark Schneider, senior
vice president with the International Crisis Group. "But Haitian
businessmen, Haitian politicians, members of the Assembly and President Michel
Martelly all know that right now the (police) cannot do it and therefore
MINUSTAH is still required to guarantee the peace" and offer support in
enforcing the law.
Schneider said the answer is not an army. "There is
not money for that," he said.
A recent report by the International Crisis Group accuses
donor nations of sending mixed signals after having unanimously supported the
disbanding of the Haitian army in 1994.
Already stretched thin before the Jan. 12, 2010,
earthquake, Haiti's police force only has 10,200 members for a nation of 10
million people. And it has problems: police officers on bodyguard duty for
politicians - diverting them from fighting crime, and a partial embargo against
the purchase of weapons arms and ammunition that forces officers to use guns
confiscated from criminals.
The force itself is not just battling rising kidnappings,
homicides and other crimes, according to both the U.N. and the International
Crisis Group report, but also faces a number of unsolved murders. These include
the deaths of several high-profile civilians and at least 14 on-duty officers
killed between January and August of this year.
Meanwhile, corruption continues to plague the force. A
recent U.N. background check of 3,600 police officers found 137 were unsuitable
to serve - including half of the senior police brass. One police inspector
general had an unexplained $66,000 deposit in his bank account; another spent
the last year cashing the salary of another officer, his brother.
Although there have been strides in police reform over
the past five years, the process is far from complete, said the Crisis Group
report, which paints a grim picture of security.
But supporters of a Haitian military say the country
cannot continue to rely on outsiders.
"MINUSTAH has to go, but it cannot go if you don't
start rebuilding your military," said Georges Michel, a Haitian political
analyst who served on two presidential commissions for the reinstatement of the
military. "There is money. There is a lot of money that is wasted."
Jorge Heine, a former Chilean ambassador who co-edited
the recently published "Fixing Haiti: MINUSTAH and Beyond," said
"The last thing Haiti needs is a weak police and a weak armed
forces."
Still, Martelly and his supporters seem undeterred,
pressing ahead with plans to create a military even as they get a lukewarm
reception from donor nations including the United States.
Last week in Haiti, Martelly met with ambassadors,
briefing them on his proposal for a military force within three years. But in
New York, the focus of international donors was clear as the U.N. Security
Council discussed strengthening the police.
"The Haitian National Police has improved in some
respects, but is not yet in a position to assume full responsibility for the
provision of internal security," said Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis, U.S.
alternate representative to the United Nations. Haiti, he said, needs to commit
the necessary resources to build up systems that will allow the police force
"to function on its own."
*Staff writer Charles reported from Miami; special
correspondent Stogel reported from the United Nations.