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LatinNews Daily - 22 April 2010
Washington Watch
Haiti: On 19 April Army Lt. Gen. Ken Keen, the former top
American commander in Haiti, said that the US military role in Haiti which
followed the devastating 12 January earthquake, would further decrease by 1
June. Keen said that the military drawdown, which will see the 2,200-strong US
force on the ground cut to about 500, was prompted by the expanding role of
civilian agencies. He was clear however that some US assistance would continue
beyond 1 June, with 500 US reserve forces moving in to conduct more normal types
of military exchanges with Haiti, including training for medical personnel,
building schools and clinics, and helping Haiti establish an emergency
operations centre. Keen said that the current security situation in
Port-Au-Prince “remains calm" and that while there have “been isolated incidents
of violence, if you will, it has not been to the degree that it has impacted at
all on our ability to provide humanitarian assistance". At the height of the US
military effort, some 22,000 forces were located in or around Haiti, including
7,000 land-based troops, with the remainder operating aboard 58 aircraft and 15
nearby vessels.
