Haitian women wash their clothes as a child takes a bath in a canal near the volatile neighbourhood of Citi-Soleil in Port-au-Prince Monday. With no running water, electricity, jobs and food, residents here live in a virtual furnace. A wave of kidnappings by criminal gangs that see this option as the only form of survival, is hitting this poverty stricken country. - REUTERS
BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters):
BRAZIL IS determined to maintain its leadership of the United Nations' peacekeeping force in Haiti despite the death of the Brazilian commander over the weekend, the vice-president said yesterday.
"I have no doubt Brazil ought to maintain the command," José Alencar told journalists in Brasilia.
"We should not, under any circumstance, even question the mission. We cannot retreat."
Lt. Gen. Urano Bacellar, who had commanded the 9,000-strong U.N. force in Haiti since the end of August, was found shot dead on Saturday in his hotel room in the capital Port-au-Prince.
POSSIBLE SUICIDE
Officials are investigating the possibility that he committed suicide.
Haiti is struggling to organise its first presidential election since a month-long armed revolt ousted then-president Jean Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.
Political violence and kidnappings continue to rage and critics are raising questions about the effectiveness of the Brazilian-led peacekeeping mission there.
"The moment has come to withdraw Brazilian troops," said Maria José Maninha, a congresswoman who led Brazilian parliamentary missions to Haiti. She blamed a lack of international financial support for the mission.
Brazil's efforts in Haiti are in line with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's ambition to establish his country's regional leadership and buttress its bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
Alencar, who is also defence minister, said there "was work to be done to ensure the command remained with Brazil."
He planned to meet Brazil's army command later on Monday to discuss whom they would propose to the United Nations as Bacellar's replacement.
