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Haiti to appoint commission on restoration of military
“You can’t talk about the withdrawal (of the U.N. force) if you don’t have a plan for your own army,” Martelly told a crowd of about 100 supporters who interrupted his speech at times to chant, “Long live the army.”
Martelly said a decree will be announced on Monday that will name members of the commission but gave few other details about the body other than the 40-day deadline.
Georges Michel, a defense adviser in the Interior Ministry, said the commission was a necessary step to ensure the army becomes a reality.
“The reinstatement of the army will be done but it will be done properly and according to rules and procedures,” Michel said after the ceremony. “The president will not tolerate or condone anything anarchic.”
There seemed to have been high hopes among the men who showed up in downtown Port-au-Prince to learn more about Martelly’s effort to restore the army. But they were dashed as the president announced that he would form a commission.
“It’s a speech to put people to sleep,” Jonel Jean-Juste, 38, a sometime student who said he had viewed the army as a job opportunity. “Putting together a commission is not going to bring the army back.”
One diplomat who attended the morning ceremony, Spanish Ambassador Manuel Hernandez Ruigomez, said he welcomed the commission.
“It’s a very good idea to consider the commission and see what the country really wants,” Hernandez said.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
