By: Matthew Russell Lee - Inner City Press

UNITED NATIONS, January 29 -- The dynamic in Haiti, according to Ban Ki-moon's envoy Edmond Mulet, is of heroic and restrained peacekeeping troops, 80% of them from Latin America, confronting gangsters and bandits and practitioners of voodoo. At a UN press conference on Monday, Mr. Mulet said that everyone in Haiti supports the UN mission, which as he describes it is laying medieval siege to Cite Soleil and "squeezing, squeezing," until the gangsters are pushed out. Video here.

Inner City Press asked Mr. Mulet where, if anywhere, the UN mission acknowledges when civilians are killed during flurries of action in this siege. In response, Mr. Mulet gave assurance that such public acknowledgements are made. Afterwards Inner City Press asked his spokeswoman to provide direction to any such disclosures. "Check the mission's site," the spokeswoman said, adding that although she had no business card with her, this too could be found on the web site. The site is slow, only in French, and the press contact page is "en construction," click here to view. So much for acknowledgments.

What's lacking, too, is honesty and humility. Perhaps because Haiti faces such difficulties -- 65% of its governmental budgets comes from international sources -- Mr. Mulet appears to believe that he must peddle in wishful thinking and absolutes. No one in Haiti is a drug addict, he said. And, everyone supports us being there. But there have been demonstrations to try to hold MINUSTAH and its soldiers accountable. Demonstrations of gangsters, Mr. Mulet would say. Some wonder, is this type of demonization consistent with the UN Charter? And why is it that some UN envoys, like Mr. Mulet and envoy to Central African Republic Lamine Cisse, think their job is to come to UN headquarters and paint rosy or cartoon-like Polyanna pictures, whatever the situation on the ground? The incumbent Special Representatives of the Secretary General need to be evaluated and at least graded, if not changed. We'll have more on this in coming weeks.

UN blue helmets in Haiti

A more balanced source, present at Monday's press conference but later requesting anonymity due to UN position, acknowledged that not all those who question MINUSTAH are gangsters, but added that since the kidnapping of a busload of children, more Haitians have accepted continued MINUSTAH presence as necessary, and better than the alternative, for now, if the UN were to leave. Many of the kidnappers, it is said, are Haitians returned from New York and Detroit, who do not speak Creole but rather English (this apparently is the testimony of some of those kidnapped and released). These are the nuances that provide a better justification for MINUSTAH than Mr. Mulet did, at least publicly.

Mr. Mulet also provided a private briefing for the Security Council. Afterwards, he declined to characterize the briefing. Inner City Press asked if the issue of Haiti's support for Taiwan had come up, as explaining China's reported moved to problematize the extension of MINUSTAH's mission. "You should ask the Security Council," Mr. Mulet said. And Inner City Press did, asked Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Council president for two more days, if the issue of Taiwan came up in the Council. He said no, click here for video.

Afterwards another Council diplomat on condition of anonymity acknowledged that Taiwan is the elephant in the Security Council consultations room on Haiti, as it was recently on extended the Liberian diamond sanctions. The diamond issue concerned a move, or comment, by a Kimberly Process staffer in Brussels about perhaps allowing Taiwan into the Process. China opposes countries recognizing Taiwan, and Taiwan's inclusion in any international bodies, including, we're told, the UN press corps. For three months, NTD-TV was allowed in the UN, and then it was stopped. And this is no longer challenged or even discussed.

Perhaps with so much stilted silence, Mr. Mulet's rosy picture should not be a surprise. The question is whether Haiti and Haitians are best served by such partial pictures. Time alone will tell.