No new troops to Haiti, Canadian envoy says

[struggle4progress]

Sat. Jul. 9 2005 1:51 PM ET

Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS — Canada cannot send more peacekeepers to Haiti right now, the ambassador said Friday, after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggested he may call on Ottawa or Paris to send more troops for the mission.

Annan had told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on June 28 that he might seek more aggressive troops for Haiti, where peacekeepers are trying to counter a wave of shootings and kidnappings that could threaten elections set for later this year.

Officials with knowledge of the meeting said Annan and Rice had agreed that the French or the Canadians would be able to do a good job. Rice then offered to lobby those two governments if he made the request.

So far, Annan has not done so publicly. But Canada's UN Ambassador Allan Rock told The Associated Press on Friday that Canada would not be able to send more troops right now. It has about 100 police and troops in Haiti as well as about 950 peacekeepers in Afghanistan. <snip>

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1120911865673_89/?hub=World

[Maple]

1. While they're at it

they can remove the people we already have there.

Canada has no business in either Haiti...or Afghanistan.

[johnnomac]

2. Afghanistan?

Actually, Canada (and all other NATO countries) do have business in Afghanistan. Indirectly, it was the Taliban government that attacked the US on 9/11. And, thanks to NATO, "an attack on one is an attack on all". If Canada had been attacked instead of America, we certainly would have business there, right? The NATO treaty says that we need to treat it as an attack on our own country.