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UN to rally more peacekeepers for Haiti
By Wu Chong (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-01-19 11:50
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NEW YORK: The United Nations is rallying more troops and police to Haiti to keep the order and expedite the necessity delivery, and about 400 troops from around the country have been added to the quake-stricken country.
Meanwhile, a UN official told China Daily that the UN is asking China to extend its rescue operation as the Chinese have accumulated experiences in Sichuan earthquake in 2008.
Earlier Monday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposed to the Security Council to increase the number of UN police officers in the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti by 1,500, or 67 percent over current levels, and to raise the number of troops by 2,000, a nearly 30 percent increase for six months.
"We need extra troops in escorting (the aid delivery)," said Le Roy, under-secretary-seneral for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
"It's very important that humanitarian convoys can reach very rapidly the people, otherwise we will have security problems."
He said the Dominican Republic has pledged to send 800 troops to Haiti and the European Union will send some police units. According to him, there are already 3,400 troops and police in Port-au-Prince.
Susana Malcorra, under-secretary-general for the Department of Field Support, said the organization has also started sending out the UN personnel whose relatives died in the quake, and shifting new people into the area.
"We have to adjust to that in the coming two to three weeks," she said.
The other big problem comes from the transportation means for aid. There used to be two airports in Port-au-Prince. But one has been severely damaged, and the other is still under repair.
According to Malcorra, a group of engineers from the United States is taking care of the airport recovery and it is expected to reopen soon.
In the meantime, she said it is also important to open alternative roads or corridors due to the limited capacity of the airport.
Malcorra told China Daily that the organization is asking the Chinese government to extend possible rescues as it has had good experience from Sichuan Earthquake two years ago.
The officials also challenged the criticism about bad coordination work, saying that it is "not perfect" but "improving".
Rashid Khalikov, director with the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said there are more than 40 teams from different countries working in Port-au-Prince right now. "Every morning we have a meeting for search and rescue teams."
The UN officials said they didn't have estimates for the death toll besides the reported 50,000 deaths. "Right now I don't think anyone knows," Le Roy said.
