Weekly Report - 12 September 2013 (WR-13-36)

HAITI | First step to creating quasi-military force. On 4 September during an official ceremony at the presidential palace, President Michel Martelly recognised the first military contingent of what will become a new national quasi-military force. Upon winning the presidency in 2010, Martelly proposed reviving the military (Fad’H), which was disbanded in 1995 by former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide (1991, 1994-1996, 2001-2004) but this remains contentious within Haiti given the Fad’H’s appalling human rights record. According to a presidential press release, 41 military officers and technicians, including 11 engineers, who received 10 months of training in Ecuador, will be deployed along with Ecuadorean cadets in the northern Artibonite area, where they will receive further field training in engineering works and other practices that will be part of their new mission (see sidebar). They will take over from the Ecuadorean contingent in the Artibonite area once the Ecuadoreans leave in December this year. The new recruits will be engaged in border surveillance; the fight against contraband and other illicit activities; civil protection; disaster response and environmental protection work.

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