UN Votes to Add 3,500 Peacekeepers in Haiti for Quake Relief

[Turborama]

Source: Bloomberg

The United Nations Security Council increased the authorized strength of the peacekeeping mission in Haiti by 3,500 soldiers and civilian police to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid following the Jan. 12 earthquake.

The council voted 15-0 today to adopt a U.S.-drafted resolution that will add to the 7,000 soldiers and 2,000 police currently in Haiti. Alain LeRoy, head of UN peacekeeping, said the reinforcements would be used to secure aid corridors in the capital Port-au-Prince and along routes from northern ports and neighboring Dominican Republic.

The action would enlarge the UN force in Haiti by almost 40 percent.

LeRoy said the Dominican Republic has pledged to send about 800 of the 2,000 soldiers needed, and that the European Union would contribute to the 1,500 police that will be deployed. Brazil, which has the largest number of soldiers in Haiti in the UN force, is ready to double its contingent of 1,266 personnel if asked, General Enza Peri, the army’s commander, said yesterday in a news conference in Brasilia.

Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-19/un-votes-to-add-3-500-peacekeepers-in-haiti-for-quake-relief.html