The Great Powers' Priorities
2010/02/05
Renewed Interference
The Berlin government think tank, the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) has elaborated concepts in a recent strategy paper, aimed at long-term control over Haiti by the major western powers. Haiti, a country that was submitted to direct interference from Europe and the USA, including military interventions and protectorate rule for the past 200 years is suffering "under the symptoms of a failing state,"[1] according to the strategy paper. The SWP asserts that "it is difficult to imagine that the most urgent needs of the population (…) could be satisfied without renewed interference ("taking over of responsibility") of the western powers ("international community"). But "the appropriate form" for an external intervention in Haiti "has to still be found". The paper is examining four versions.
Ad-hoc-Group
The author of the SWP strategy paper considers it problematic to think that "western activities in Haiti could be placed under the auspices of the existing UN "mission" MINUSTAH. After all, MINUSTAH was established in 2004 with the justification that Haiti is posing a threat to peace (Chapter 7 of the UN Charta). It is "quite difficult" to sustain this assertion after the earthquake, writes the SWP. According to the paper, it would not be optimal to turn Haiti into an "international protectorate" "without special authorization under international law" - meaning an unauthorized occupation on the basis of a voluntary or forced demand by the government in Port-au-Prince. It is "questionable, if Haiti (…) is the appropriate terrain to introduce a model, which impinges upon basic questions of legitimacy."[2] The "establishment of a development agency" under UN auspices "or ad hoc group of member states" seems the most practical version, writes the author. "In cooperation" with the elected Haitian government, this agency should "shape the reconstruction."
Colony
The SWP is giving special attention to the idea of reviving the system of UN "trust territories" in accordance with Chapter XII of the UN Charta. This idea is being particularly discussed in the USA concerning in general "the case of failing states", writes the SWP. Former UN "trust territories" were colonies, which were to receive their sovereignty, a process that in some cases took dozens of years. Applying this model to Haiti, could be "attractive to key actors of the international community", particularly if the experiences gained with the occupation administration in Kosovo are taken into consideration and if Haiti' administration is adapted to this model, writes the author of the strategy paper. But he cautions that the "option of an international interim administration" is not applicable "to UN member states, such as Haiti."[3]
Military Bases
No matter what decision will be taken on western interference in Haiti, Germany - according to the SWP - "can participate just as effectively as it does in the technical aid for the reconstruction."[4] In the meantime, the EU has emphasized its claim to participate by deploying its Gendarmerie Force to this Caribbean country. The activities of the police and military units of European countries are therefore being expanded in the Caribbean and costal regions of Latin America with the participation of Germany - as opposed to the EU Gendarmerie Force. Paris maintains military bases in its colony French Guyana, where - according to intelligence service experts - its intelligence service Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure, DGSE maintains listening posts in cooperation with the German intelligence service BND.[5] In French Guyana the German combat unit KSK is also training in jungle warfare. In Martinique, another French colony, Paris established a naval base (Fort Saint Louis) that the German navy used during a naval exercise last year. London is maintaining the "British Army Training Support Unit Belize" in its former cColony Belize, where its "International Jungle Patrol Course" also serves the KSK for its training. And since 2006, the German Bundeswehr is also training officers from Belize.
Tensions
The deployment of European repressive forces to the region does not only secure a long-term presence in the backyard of the US. It is also sending a signal to countries like Venezuela and Cuba, which are resisting US-European hegemony. When in 2009 the deployment and training unit of the German Navy entered the Columbian harbor Cartagena de Indias, it was perceived as a clear signal to Venezuela because of serious tensions between Columbia and Venezuela. German and Columbian battle ships subsequently participated in a multinational naval exercise. Den Haag has a naval base ("Hato Navy Air Station") on the Dutch Antilles, a Dutch colony 60 kilometers off the coast of Venezuela, used by the USA as a Forward Operating Location. The serious tensions between Venezuela and its allies on the one hand and the USA and Columbia show the significance of European military bases and troops in the region. This is also true for the new US-European presence in Haiti. SWP is elaborating concepts for formalizing this presence: Haiti is only 60 kilometers form Cuba.
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