MIPONUH - Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Civilian Police Mission in Haiti (S/1999/579)

The report responds to resolution 1212 (1998) and gives initial recommendations on a transition to other forms of international assistance. It welcomes steps ending a stalemate that left Haiti without a Prime Minister or functioning Government for 21 months, and asks all actors to take part constructively in the electoral process, free of violence. The Provisional Electoral Council faces challenges in organizing parliamentary and local elections before the end of 1999; an electoral decree and election dates are urgently needed, and the Government has requested electoral advisers and help for the police with communications, logistics, infrastructure, computers and matériel.

The Secretary-General says the Government must prepare to take full responsibility for the police, and describes a two-year technical assistance programme with international police advisers in all nine departments, prepared with UNDP and bilateral donors. The report also pays tribute to the 13 people who died in a helicopter accident on March 14, 1999.