They may not be effective but we need them
Mark says...
I think everything is not all that peachy in Haiti; unity has never been one of our virtue.
Haitians are capable of great atrocities.
Had MINUSTAH not been present we might've had a civil war in 2004. To answer your question the last time i went to Haiti was in 2003. I agree MINUSTAH is not very effective but their mere presence deter some people from committing crimes.
Violence is in all of us and a lot people will commit crimes if they know they won't be punished.
One of the goals of this government should be the departure of MINUSTAH as soon as possible, but they cannot leave before we have a force capable of protecting Haitians.
Everybody's focus on Port-au-Prince and Cite Soleil but the truth is in the provinces and the countryside alike crime is rampant.
Criminals are much more audacious nowadays.
There are some towns where people rarely see a police officer.
In these towns armed thieves break into people's houses all the time stealing, raping and killing people.
Those sort of news rarely get reported but it is happening, and sometimes the victims are too scared to say anything because the victims usually know the criminals.
About three months ago one of my close friend went to Haiti, he went to a small town near Cap-Haitien two days after he got there a groups of armed men broke in during the night, they raped one of the women and then took everything he had. I don't know of any resources Cite Soleil may have but I do know that foreign countries don't usually help or donate money out of the goodness of their heart they usually have a way of getting their money back ten fold. No doubt innocent people end up as casualties and i'm sure their are times when UN soldiers use excessive force but there some violent criminals that needs to be dealt with. I've read news articles where writers paint Haiti as peaceful country where UN soldiers are murdering innocent people, that is not often the case. There are some extremely violent criminals in Haiti.
Like Robert said we need to have security before we'll see real development no investor is going to risk his life or money in a country where impunity prevails.
One of the main priority of this government should be security we cannot rely on MUNISTAH or the international security we should view their presence as temporary.
Besides it's a lot better to build your own house rather then having somebody build something that you may not like.
The topic is: MUNISTAH the necessary evil
This is a reply to Msg 1377
Posted by Mark on February 4 2007 at 3:46 PM