Brazil pledges to help Haiti build new army

Agent-x - July 27 2012, 9:14 PM

According to news.xinhuanet-com on 27 July 2012, RIO DE JANEIRO, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Brazil will help Haiti form a defense force that can eventually take over from the UN peacekeeping mission.

Brazilian Defense Minister Celso Amorim announced the decision during a meeting Thursday with his Haitian counterpart Jean Rodolphe Joazile.

He said the Brazilian government would send a military mission to determine how Brazil could help the Caribbean country.

"Haiti's government requested we cooperate in this manner.

We are now trying to work on the ways the help can be given," Amorim said.
Amorim said Brazil only agreed to help on condition the armed forces would not become a personal militia.

He said he was assured by Joazile the new army would be a public force.

"This is not about restituting the old army, against which these accusations were made, or building a model that works as a personal militia," he said.
Amorim said Haitian officers might study engineering in Brazil, which would help the new Haitian military build professional and institutional capacity.

Military engineering could help with civil defense - an important capacity for a country prone to natural disasters such as flooding and earthquakes, he said.
news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-07/27/c_131743083.htm

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