Seraphim
03-05-2004, 08:30 PM
Canadian Press
LONGUEUIL, Que. -- Canada will take a leading role in stabilizing and rebuilding Haiti, beginning with the deployment of 425 troops to the beleaguered country, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced Friday.
The troops from bases in Gagetown, N.B., Kingston, Ont., and Valcartier, Que., will leave for Haiti in the coming days and be there for three months. Martin said a lengthier peacekeeping and humanitarian mission will follow.
''We will not leave prematurely,'' Martin told a news conference after visiting a day-care centre near Montreal.
''Canada is going to stay there. We are going to assure the young people of Haiti that they are going to have a better future.''
Martin said a ''judgment call'' will be made on any additional time that Canadian troops spend in Haiti. He added he would meet with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan next week to discuss the next phase of the mission.
''It could obviously be anywhere from the beginning of that three months to a year. Let's see how the circumstances unfold.''
Martin said Canada has a two-fold pledge to help bring stability to Haiti, including rebuilding its government, judiciary, education, health and agriculture sectors.
''This is not something that's going to be solved simply by stationing troops,'' Martin said. ''The purpose of the troops is immediate disarmament.
''Once you've got immediate disarmament, then you will proceed to rebuilding those institutions but it's not going to be done tomorrow.''
Martin promised the 90-day commitment would ''not add to the tensions, the stress that is being faced by our military,'' which is already contributing large forces to duties in Afghanistan and Bosnia.
He insisted Canada and the international community cannot shirk their responsibilities when it comes to helping failing states such as Haiti, whose president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was recently ousted.
''The international community left Haiti prematurely the last time and we saw what happened,'' Martin said, referring to the most recent attempt to restore order to Haiti in the mid-1990s.
''The international community must not make that mistake again and Canada is going to stay there to ensure that does not happen.''
Haiti is in desperate need of ''institution building,'' Martin said.
''The real problem in Haiti is that there is a whole generation that is in the process of losing hope,'' Martin explained.
Members of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, will begin leaving their Gagetown, N.B., base within days and will be in Haiti within five to 16 days.
LONGUEUIL, Que. -- Canada will take a leading role in stabilizing and rebuilding Haiti, beginning with the deployment of 425 troops to the beleaguered country, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced Friday.
The troops from bases in Gagetown, N.B., Kingston, Ont., and Valcartier, Que., will leave for Haiti in the coming days and be there for three months. Martin said a lengthier peacekeeping and humanitarian mission will follow.
''We will not leave prematurely,'' Martin told a news conference after visiting a day-care centre near Montreal.
''Canada is going to stay there. We are going to assure the young people of Haiti that they are going to have a better future.''
Martin said a ''judgment call'' will be made on any additional time that Canadian troops spend in Haiti. He added he would meet with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan next week to discuss the next phase of the mission.
''It could obviously be anywhere from the beginning of that three months to a year. Let's see how the circumstances unfold.''
Martin said Canada has a two-fold pledge to help bring stability to Haiti, including rebuilding its government, judiciary, education, health and agriculture sectors.
''This is not something that's going to be solved simply by stationing troops,'' Martin said. ''The purpose of the troops is immediate disarmament.
''Once you've got immediate disarmament, then you will proceed to rebuilding those institutions but it's not going to be done tomorrow.''
Martin promised the 90-day commitment would ''not add to the tensions, the stress that is being faced by our military,'' which is already contributing large forces to duties in Afghanistan and Bosnia.
He insisted Canada and the international community cannot shirk their responsibilities when it comes to helping failing states such as Haiti, whose president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was recently ousted.
''The international community left Haiti prematurely the last time and we saw what happened,'' Martin said, referring to the most recent attempt to restore order to Haiti in the mid-1990s.
''The international community must not make that mistake again and Canada is going to stay there to ensure that does not happen.''
Haiti is in desperate need of ''institution building,'' Martin said.
''The real problem in Haiti is that there is a whole generation that is in the process of losing hope,'' Martin explained.
Members of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, will begin leaving their Gagetown, N.B., base within days and will be in Haiti within five to 16 days.