Canada Also Turns The UN Request to Send Troops in
Haiti
UNITED NATIONS
— Canada cannot send more peacekeepers to Haiti right
now, the ambassador said Friday, after UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggested he may call on
Ottawa or Paris to send more troops for the mission.
Annan had told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
on June 28 that he might seek more aggressive troops for
Haiti, where peacekeepers are trying to counter a wave of
shootings and kidnappings that could threaten elections
set for later this year.
Officials with knowledge of the meeting said Annan and
Rice had agreed that the French or the Canadians would be
able to do a good job. Rice then offered to lobby those
two governments if he made the request.
So far, Annan has not done so publicly. But Canada's UN
Ambassador Allan Rock told The Associated Press on Friday
that Canada would not be able to send more troops right
now. It has about 100 police and troops in Haiti as well
as about 950 peacekeepers in Afghanistan.
"Canada is not in a position to provide additional
forces at this very moment" because of its
commitments in Haiti and Afghanistan, Rock told The
Associated Press.
A spokesman at the French mission refused to comment on
whether Paris would contribute more troops. France has 81
police and troops on the Haiti mission.
In late June, the UN Security Council voted to beef up
the Brazil-led peacekeeping force in Haiti by about 1,000
troops and police in the runup to elections set for later
this year. That would bring its force to well over 8,000.
The UN mission replaced a U.S.-led force that arrived
after a three-week uprising toppled President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide on Feb. 29, 2004. More than 400
people have died since September in clashes involving pro-
and anti-Aristide street gangs, police, peacekeepers and
ex-soldiers who helped oust Aristide.
On Wednesday, more than 400 UN peacekeepers stormed
into a slum in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince as part
of the efforts to halt violence by loyalists of Aristide.
At least two men were killed, officials said.
A powerful pro-Aristide gang leader, Emmanuel
"Dread" Wilme, was among those killed, according
to local radio reports.
