UN asks Finland to send crisis management forces to Haiti

Military engineers especially sought-after

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There are indications that a request might be coming from the United Nations for Finland to deploy crisis management forces in Haiti. Sources in Finland said on Friday that a request to take part in keeping public order in the earthquake-stricken country has been under preparation.
      There have been no preparations yet for a possible political decision to send forces to Haiti. The humanitarian crisis in Haiti was discussed only on a general level at Friday’s meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy and President Tarja Halonen.
     
Finland was invited already on Thursday to a UN meeting in New York, aimed at looking for reinforcements for crisis management forces in Haiti, says Ambassador Heidi Schroderus-Fox, the number-two person at the Finnish mission to the UN. She says that Finland was not given an official request to take part in crisis management in Haiti.
      Finland, like all other countries, has received an appeal from the UN to help Haiti, but it did not include any specific request for forces.
     
Finland has the necessary resources to send forces to Haiti. As the Kosovo operation winds down, Finland will have fewer than 500 soldiers on crisis management duty, whereas the target is 700 soldiers.
      There have been unofficial discussions on what kinds of forces Finland might deploy in UN-led operations. In the first stages, the appeal was for paramilitary police to maintain order. France and Italy have such forces, but not Finland.
      On Thursday, an issue that was discussed was the need for the kinds of military engineer and construction forces which Finland has sent on UN missions before.
     
Before the destructive earthquake on January 12th, the strength of the UN police and military operation in Haiti was just over 9,000 people, 6,940 of whom were soldiers. France is the only European country to be involved.
      Now the UN Security Council has given authorisation for a significantly larger operation, which the countries of Latin America - which have had the main UN role in Haiti so far - are not capable of.
     
Assembling more forces is not easy. On Wednesday Haiti turned down an offer by its neighbour, the Dominican Republic, to deploy another 800 soldiers for the UN operation. On Thursday news agencies reported that Haiti relented somewhat, offering to accept 150 soldiers.
      At present, the biggest provider of assistance to Haiti is the United States, which has sent about 12,000 soldiers to the country. The soldiers are not under UN command, but are working in cooperation with the organisation.
      While Haiti needs more support than before, criticism toward the aid operation is on the increase. The prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, has written that the large aid organisations have focussed on self-promotion.

More on this subject:
 Finnish Red Cross approach to disaster relief criticised

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish Red Cross field hospital cares for injured in Haiti (20.1.2010)
  Donations for Haiti relief exceed EUR 1 million (19.1.2010)
  Finnish aid worker travels in convoy to chaotic Haiti (15.1.2010)
  Finnish aid organisations join international effort to help Haiti after massive earthquake (14.1.2010)

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