Stability

The U.N has a long history of surging and retracting in Haiti.  The new UN backed international force has received pledges of more than 5,500 soldiers and police with Chadians already in Port-au-Prince to replace the Kenyans.  While pledges don't always turn into commitments, this is at least a positive sign that numerous countries are willing to provide human or financial resources to help re-establish security.  Elections, recovery, and longer-term development all depend on it.  Deployments of new staff will reportedly continue from fall until the end of the year.  Given how long Haitians have suffered, this is welcome news.  The full AP article is linked and below. 

With gangs operating in almost total impunity throughout Port-au-Prince, catastrophic levels of hunger in some areas, and a growing cholera epidemic, the United States has decided to back a multinational rapid reaction force to Haiti.  This will not be a UN peacekeeping force and the USA is expected to play a major role in its operations.  At the same time, the USA has deployed a USAID Disaster Assessment Response Team (DART) and is expected to ramp up its humanitarian support.  The current situation is untenable and hopefully the multi-national force can help stabilise Haiti somewhat. The full article by MIchael Wilner and Jacqueline Charles in the Miami Herald follows.