Haiti government asks for international military assistance in quelling protests
Haiti’s president on Wednesday asked for international military assistance as he ordered the country’s president and the prime minister to meet with members of the United Nations committee overseeing the Ebola epidemic that is in Port-au-Prince.
The meeting will be held this Friday at the U.S. diplomatic mission to the U.N. in New York. According to a statement released by the U.S. mission to the U.N., President Jovenel Moise said the meeting will “consider the options, including the use of international military assistance.”
The statement also said: “President Moise also offered to provide U.S. humanitarian assistance to Haiti if requested by the U.N. in support of that country’s efforts related to the emergency.”
The meeting with the U.N. committee is expected in the coming days. The U.S. has already dispatched aid to the country. But Haitian officials say the country needs an international response.
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has caused concern in Haiti because a number of health workers have had close contact with sick patients. The disease has reached Haiti.
The outbreak has been declared a public health emergency with an alert level of 3.
A statement from World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan on the Ebola virus said Wednesday there have been five deaths in four countries. That includes one in the Democratic Republic of Congo and two in Sierra Leone, all of which are not affected by the outbreak.
According to a U.S. embassy statement, the U.S. is in close contact with the World Health Organization working toward a global response to Ebola. “The U.S. Government will continue to monitor the developments,” said the statement, released Wednesday evening. “We will communicate with the WHO at appropriate times.”
President Moise has pledged to make the U.S. government the lead source of assistance to countries trying to contain the virus that has infected more than 1,300 people, including 674