Posted on 01/07/2006 7:10:44 AM PST by mdittmar
The commander of a United Nations peacekeeping force in Haiti shot himself dead on Saturday, U.N. officials said.
Brazilian Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar killed himself in a room at the Montana hotel in the troubled Caribbean country's capital, the officials said.
Few other details were immediately available.
Teixeira da Matta took over the U.N. peacekeeping force at the end of August.
The mission, known by its acronym MINUSTAH, was sent to Haiti to keep the peace between supporters and foes of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide after Aristide was ousted following a monthlong armed revolt in February 2004.
But the country of 8.5 million people has continued to be afflicted by political violence and a wave of kidnappings has swept through Port-au-Prince despite the presence of around 9,000 Brazilian-led U.N. troops and police.
Haiti has also struggled to organise its first presidential election since Aristide fled into exile. Originally scheduled for November, the ballot has been repeatedly put off and is now expected to take place in February.
Haiti's interim authorities have blamed the U.N. mission and the Organisation of American States for the delays, a charge both organisations resolutely refute.
Since he was from the inept UN, we can assume he was aiming at someone else.
A scandal to follow?
Perhaps Kofi Annan could learn something from this guy?
We should be so lucky!!
rotfl!
Was he Fostered?
Maybe the wife found out about some of his little hobbies that he does only when he's far away from home.
MAJOR news item!! A U.N peacekeeper actually knew how to fire a weapon - did - and hit something!
Ya never know but I can't help thinking that, where there is smoke, there's fire
If I had to deal directly with Kofi Annan, I'd probably wanna shoot myself too.
YOu think YOU had a bad day!
I don't think that is enough troops, when are they going home, it is about bananas and Kofi lied-people died.
Leni
Or, "You can hide the fire, but you can't hide the smoke."
The Canadian General commanding UN troops in Rwanda attempted suicide too, but after his assignment. His book is "Shaking Hands With The Devil". A very powerful book.
wakka...wakka...wakka...
No, regrettably, I bet he had committed some crimes and was about to get caught...I do wish his family the best, and I hate to assume the guy was a crook--but given the history of the U.N., Haiti, and the people associated with both, I'd be willing to bet that was the case.
Kerry gets blame for Haiti unrest.17 October, 2004
The commander of the UN peacekeepers in Haiti has linked a recent upsurge in violence there to comments made by the US presidential candidate,John Kerry
kerry would have our troops under u.n. command.
My guess is he was diagnosed as HIV positive.
Sad but true.
I assume you are referring to Dallaire? He is still alive.
Ping.
as usual, it is bush's fault.
Great view from the Montana.....Petionville
I had a big fight at the pool cafe veranda there back in 1990. We used to sit at night and watch the technicals have it out below.....or better yet....make mad dashes down through downtown at night when the goblins would be about....Haiti was always sorta nuts and bloody but kinda pretty and the occasional glimpse of extremely faded opulence....more like Africa than Africa in a French colonial way
for some reason, Haiti never got many good weapons which is odd with Cuba right there....most weapons there are not very fancy....but a good machete can still carry the day
Good. That'll save us the trouble later on.
Must've discovered that UN means "UN-NEcessary".
Haiti is one of the UN protectorates. Sudan and Kosovo are protectorates as well.
Are we sure this guy didn't commit suicide by falling backwards on a knife 3 or 4 times?
Fell down the stairs, tied his hands behind his back, put out lit cigarettes on his privates and then blew his brains out.
Yep, looks like suicide to me Chief.
(Reminds me of the hippie who moved to Cortez County, Colorado. He had lived there two weeks when he was appointed chairman of the Grand Jury. The first case he heard was the shooting death of a notorious local cattle rustler. Grand Jury findings: likely suicide in a fit of remorse.)
I would not put too much stock into Romeo Dallaire.
Here is part of an interview that I saw on CNN last year reference Dallaire's DEFENSE of UN peacekeepers who rape children. Interview was conducted in Feb 2005 by Richard Roth:
ROTH: In Congo, U.N. peacekeepers accused of trading sex for food, for refugees. Comment on how much of that you saw in the past and what you think of it now.
DALLAIRE: Many of these countries are sending troops that do not have fundamental beliefs in human rights or the training or the background in regards to the complexities of these missions. And the reason why many of them are coming is because the white and developed countries are not providing anymore, as we did during the Cold War. And so you will have catastrophic failures in the field for troops that do not have either the background, the training or the discipline, and trying to adjust to the new cultures at the same time.
Full interview:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0502/25/i_dl.01.html
Note that Dallaire does not ask that individuals take responsibility for actions, but rather, blames the society from whence they came.
He also goes so far as to NOT hold the UN accountable for the actions of the very personnel it arms and supports.
You need to learn more about Dallaire before you praise him. The guy makes excuses for those who rape children and refugees.
He, like the MSM, fails to acknowledge the failures of the Clinton administration during the crisis in Rwanda.
Instead, he even blames the Pentagon, which has zero say in the matter of troop deployment.
Such decisions lie with the President and Congress:
"I blame the American leadership, which includes the Pentagon, in projecting itself as the world policeman one day and a recluse the next," Dallaire says.
Was he Fostered?""
There is the scandal they would pursue further and send Hillary to jail over.
I am fully convinced that she and mostly she was the perp behind Vince Foster's death. She definately had help, and I think Craig Livingstone was involved.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.