Haitian president announces plan to restore national army

Haitian President Michel Martelly said on Friday that a civil commission will be set up to help restore the nation's army, dissolved 17 years ago. Martelly announced the plan at a ceremony marking a 19th-century independence battle, saying the army will replace the peacekeepers of the United Nations, which have been present in this country since 2004. "The presidential order to create this commission will be issued on Monday and the commission will have 40 days to prepare a plan to rebuild the Armed Forces, which should be presented on January 1," Martelly said. Since he came to power in May, the Haitian leader has made clear his aim to restore the army to replace about 10,500 UN peacekeepers deployed in his country, although it is widely questioned whether Haiti needs a new army as it still struggles to recover from the 2010 earthquake which caused more than 225,000 deaths and destroyed its capital Port-Au-Prince. The former Haitian army had 8,000 members. It was disbanded in 1994 when Jean Bertrand Aristide resumed the presidency after several political upheavals. In 2004, the UN Stabilization Mission for Haiti (MINUSTAH) was authorized to help disarm and demobilize the remaining armed groups.