The United Nations' recent announcement that it would end its peacekeeping mission in Haiti in mid-October, removing its soldiers and leaving a smaller contingent of police, has been met with celebration, apathy and concern.
It also raised the perennial question: What's in store for Haiti now?
The decision to pull out the military component of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, commonly known by the French acronym MINUSTAH, recognizes the progress that the Caribbean nation has made toward stabilization, including last year's presidential election and the return to constitutional order, U.N. officials said.
"These are all indications that the people of Haiti are ready to move forward," Sandra Honore, U.N. special representative and head of MINUSTAH, said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
The resolution calls for the more than 2,300 blue-helmeted personnel to gradually depart while 1,275 U.N. police remain for an initial period of six months. The mandate of the follow-up mission will be to train Haitian national police and support the government in maintaining the rule of law, human rights and stability, Honore said.
"Haiti is ready to move on without the presence of the military contingent," she added.
But what will this mean for the poverty-stricken country of more than 10.4 million people that has been beset by political tumult and had successive U.N. peacekeeping missions for more than two decades?
