RP to send more troops to Haiti

The Philippines will send 200 additional troops to Haiti to help United Nations peacekeeping forces curb political unrest ahead of elections, President Arroyo said yesterday.

"I have authorized 200 soldiers more to be sent to Haiti," the President said during celebrations marking the Department of Foreign Affairs’ 107th anniversary.

The Philippines was among the first to pledge more troops to the Caribbean island after UN Secretary General Kofi Annan asked countries to increase their peacekeeping contingent for the polls scheduled this November. Haiti is now run by an interim government charged with organizing fresh elections.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said the Filipino peacekeepers would be there before the elections and until the ballots have been counted and officials installed.

Romulo said the sending of troops was part of the country’s firm commitment to the international community’s efforts to restore democracy and stability in Haiti.

Since taking a non-permanent seat in the 15-member UN Security Council last year, the Philippines has sent peacekeeping forces to African states Ivory Coast and Liberia. It has also contributed troops to East Timor.

"All of these are part of our multilateral diplomacy and our role in peacekeeping as (member of the UN)," Romulo said.

The Philippines sent up to 150 soldiers to Haiti last November to join nearly 4,000 Brazilian-led peacekeepers there.

The UN mission is tasked with restoring order in Haiti after its president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ousted in February last year. The Philippines also played a crucial role in authorizing the deployment of a multinational interim force, and later MINUSTAH — the French acronym for the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti —to restore order in Haiti and assist in its rehabilitation.

The DFA had said earlier that Filipino peacekeepers would remain in their posts in Haiti despite attacks on UN units.

About 650 people in Haiti have been killed in a wave of violence since last September.

In April, Filipino peacekeeper Staff Sergeant Antonio Batomalaque was killed during an attack on a checkpoint in the impoverished Cite Soleil neighborhood, one of Haiti’s most dangerous areas.

In July last year, it withdrew a token presence in Iraq to save the life of a Filipino truck driver taken captive by militants outside Baghdad in Iraq.

Aside from the 135 troops assigned to the Force Headquarters Support Company, the Philippines also has 10 civilian police officers serving in Haiti, making it the 11th biggest troop contributor among the 41 countries taking part in the 7,500-strong peacekeeping operation. — Aurea Calica, Reuters, Pia Lee-Brago