UN chief urges nations to consider deploying forces to help Haiti as hundreds flee deadly earthquake
AFP, PARIS
The UN Security Council has been urged to consider deploying forces to assist Haiti as hundreds of thousands of people flee the deadly earthquake-tsunami, while residents of Haiti and French President Francois Hollande appealed for an international intervention.
A UN Security Council statement issued on Thursday said the “urgent and critical situation in Haiti” required a “response that will include humanitarian assistance, support for reconstruction and reconstruction and relief.”
At least 6,000 people have been killed and thousands of others are still missing after an 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck near Haiti’s northwest coast on January 12.
Hollande and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have appealed for help from the international community, while the U.N. Security Council “strongly encouraged” the country to “reopen with the highest possible coordination”, the UN statement said.
“The UN Secretary-General expressed his deep concern at the continuing tragic situation in Haiti and the Secretary-General has asked the heads of the Security Council Committee on Foreign Relations to prepare a statement on the situation in Haiti in a forthcoming session,” it added.
At the same time, U.S. President Barack Obama said the United States is ready to assist in any way it can “wherever we can, and I’m hoping that we’re going to be able to lend some of our capabilities to that.”
France, a leading power in the Western hemisphere, is also in a desperate search for a viable response to assist Haiti in any way possible.
The crisis in Haiti, dubbed the most complex and traumatic emergency in the history of mankind, gained momentum after the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 12 asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other U.S. government officials to investigate the disaster and come up with a plan to ensure that Haitians are not “systematically left behind.”
The UN was also called on to contribute to the response.
On February 13, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed resolution 1723, calling on the UN in Haiti to assist with the relief and