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Haiti: Former dictator may be pardoned
The president refused to blame the United Nations for the problems, saying individual troops should be held accountable for their own misdeeds. But he said he will replace the peacekeepers with a Haitian security force that will create jobs for 3,000-5,000 Haitian youths and help Haiti become self-sustaining.
Martelly said he’ll need foreign cooperation to fund and train the security force, but pledged to have it at least partially in place by the end of his term in 2016. He has run into opposition from donor countries that criticized earlier pledges to build a new Haitian army, disbanded in disgrace in 1995, and he acknowledged Thursday that a new army wasn’t realistic.
He refused to put a time frame on an exit for the peacekeepers.
“We are working with them to establish a calendar where they can retreat,” he said. “I don’t want to force the peacekeeping nations to feel like I’m pushing them out.”
The Haitian president spoke on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, an annual gathering of global power brokers at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, where he came to meet with potential investors.
Martelly, a popular musician sworn in as president in May, said he has already provided new homes to thousands of earthquake refugees, sent nearly 1 million more children to free schools and made progress on rebuilding the airport and the ports. Investment, he said, is booming.
His main priority, he said, is to create jobs so Haiti can support itself without being dependent on foreign aid.
