Weekly Report - 05 January 2012 (WR-12-01)

HAITI | Army and elections. There cannot have been many more controversial presidential speeches to mark the anniversary of Haitian independence on 1 January. President Michel Martelly chose the 208^th anniversary to announce that a recently created special commission had recommended that the Haitian army, disbanded in 1994, should be re-established. Martelly said the army would safeguard territorial integrity, respond to natural disasters and fight drug-trafficking and terrorism. The international community, and the bulk of the political opposition, opposes restoring the army, which had a dreadful human rights record, as an unnecessary financial burden. The debate will now rage in parliament.

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