HAITI NEWS & CULTURE
35462: Durban (comment): re. 35458: Gilles (Comment on UN
Lance Durban We have all heard the occasional anti-U.N. peacekeeping presence rant. Obviously there are a few people who feel strongly on this issue... but I would submit that they are a very small and ignorant minority.
One can argue about whether the 8000+ foreign troops in Haiti could be doing more to help the country... the majority just kind of sit around idly in their vehicles... but their mere presence has ensured that Haiti's crazy minority doesn't make living in Haiti even more difficult. Note well, I am not defining that crazy minority, because they would not all fall into the same political camp.
One of the biggest economic benefits of the U.N. peacekeepers is the foreign exchange they are bringing into the country. (eg. The number of Haitian paintings you see hanging on virtually every wall on busy streets in PAP and Petioinville would not be painted if there weren't at least some people buying. Guess who?).
Sorry, but the few folks who are calling for the U.N. to leave are simply not thinking. They perceive a big controlling power that operates Haiti for its own interest. Sorry, this is more an indication of their own Haitian lack of confidence than anything else.
Who are the peacekeepers? The majority are poor soldiers from countries and societies not much better off than Haiti. Men (mostly) who might have difficulty finding employment in their own countries if they did not have the military peacekeeping option.
This week our electronics company in Haiti has an ISO (quality) certifier in from the States who observed that the U.N. presence here seems less noticeable than during his visit last year. (Apparently, the U.N. armored personnel carrier normally parked at the airport entrance was off-duty when he arrived). He had just spent a month in Bangladesh, and commented that all Bangladeshis are very proud that they are one of the largest suppliers of peacekeeping troops in the world! Apparently while he was there, a Bangladeshi U.N. peacekeeper who had died of malaria, contracted while on assignment somewhere in Africa, was given what amounted to a full-blown state funeral.
So, why doesn't Haiti pull it's act together and form a police battalion for overseas U.N. peacekeeping duty? In other words, give something back to the world organization. (My own suspicion is that the Bangladesh economy probably benefits from supplying peacekeepers paid for by the world's wealthier countries). If Haiti got into the practice of supplying peacekeepers as well as importing them, we just might silence Haiti's chirping minority who see peacekeepers as some kind of an oppressive force.
Lance Durban
