RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil’s defence minister has confirmed that the country’s troops will begin a partial withdrawal from Haiti next March, amid growing criticism of the United Nations stabilisation mission there.
Celso Amorim told the senate foreign affairs committee on Thursday that 257 Brazilian troops, out of a total of 2,200, would leave the country as part of UN plans to reduce its numbers by 1,600. Resentment has been growing at the presence of UN troops following a cholera outbreak and a recent case of alleged sexual abuse.
The UN was widely blamed for introducing the cholera epidemic, which has so far killed about 6,200.
Friction between UN forces and Haitians was stoked after the alleged sexual assault of an 18-year-old Haitian man by Uruguayan troops. – (Guardian service)