Uruguay to Withdraw Peacekeepers from Haiti

Uruguay deployed peace keeping force in Haiti since when chaos erupted at the end of Jean-Bertrand Aristide's presidency in 2004. It was a part of United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). Uruguay has contributed almost 1,000 soldiers to the 9000 strong U. N peace keeping mission in Haiti. The force has been under intense scrutiny for years and is blamed for many reasons.

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Last year at Port-au-Prince, the protesters clashed with the police while demanding withdrawal of this peace keeping force from the country. They were angry over an alleged sexual assault over an 18-year-old Haitian man by peacekeepers from Uruguay.

Another blow against this controversial mission which has remained under constant fire is its alleged role in sparking a cholera epidemic brought in by a peacekeeping battalion from Nepal. However, U.N. rejected this claim on its organization's diplomatic immunity conferred by a 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities.

The Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, on October 29, has expressed his intention to withdraw his strong 1,000 peacekeeping troops in Haiti because it is not yielding any democratic progress out there.

The force was neither successful in building a Haitian police force nor in creating a democratic renewal process. However, he did not mention any time table for withdrawal but said it would be coordinated with Brazilian authority, which leads the UN force. Mujica government is even willing to forego the valuable financial incentive offered to the Uruguay military on participation. Jean-Charles Moise, the Senator from Haiti, met him to advice immediate withdrawal from MINUSTAH.

This indicates how sour the mission has become.

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Read more: MINUSTAH, International, Uruguay, Peacekeeping, International, Military

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