The top U.N. official for Haiti is urging the Caribbean country’s new government to keep its promises to fight corruption, improve justice, and combat poverty especially in rural areas, saying peacekeepers have accomplished their mission of stabilizing the Western hemisphere’s poorest nation. Sandra Honore said Haiti today “is far different” than it was in 2004, when the U.N. deployed peacekeeping troops following a rebellion that left the country on the brink of collapse. Honore also encouraged the government to make available the resources needed by local government to combat poverty and provide education, health and opportunities especially in rural areas. The current peacekeeping mission known as MINUSTAH, which Honore heads, arrived in 2004 and is scheduled to end in October. Honore urged the government, civil society and Haiti’s political parties “to work assiduously at improving those areas in the justice system that require improvement.”

Source: National Post July 21, 2017 22:18 UTC