Weekly Report - 24 November 2011 (WR-11-47)

HAITI | Restoration of the army. President Michel Martelly is moving ahead cautiously with plans to restore Haiti’s disbanded army. On 19 November he announced the appointment of a civilian commission which between now and independence day on 1 January will meet legislators, business and religious leaders, before producing a report into the role a future army would play when the UN stabilisation force (Minustah) leaves. Martelly, who was speaking on the anniversary of a military victory by Haitian rebels under Jean-Jacques Dessalines against the French in 1803 at Vertières, failed to provide a convincing explanation for why an army was needed instead of channelling resources into improving the national police. He claimed the army would combat smuggling and terrorism, although this is not a pressing concern in Haiti and would generally fall under the remit of the police.

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