Security & Strategic Review - July 2005

HAITI | Minustah becomes more assertive. Apparently stung by criticism that its inability to quell violence might prompt recourse to US and French troops for the 'rapid deployment force' ordered by the UN Security Council, Minustah has been adopting a visibly more aggressive stance. On 29 June about 300 troops were mobilised in an eight-hour raid on four sectors of the Bel Air district in Port-au-Prince. Their main targets were those suspected of involvement in a recent wave of kidnappings: 13 of them were arrested and handed over to the Haitian national police. Resistance was strong, but Minustah emerged with its personnel unscathed, whereas six gunmen were killed.