By: Honathan M. Katz - Associated Press

Haiti's president appointed a commission of academics and ex-military officers Tuesday to study the creation of a security force to one day replace U.N. troops in the restive Caribbean country.

An 8,800-member U.N. peacekeeping force, deployed in 2004 after an uprising toppled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, has provided the only real security Haiti has seen since Aristide disbanded the army in 1995.

The new seven-member panel named by President Rene Preval will decide whether to create a unit to supplement the impoverished nation's overwhelmed and outgunned police forces, or to restore the army, which orchestrated several coups throughout Haiti's history.

Preval said last month during a visit to U.N. headquarters in New York that he saw no reason to restore the army a position that commission president Patrick Elie appeared to support Tuesday.

"All I've seen professional armies do is either repress their own people or conquer other people's territory," Elie, a former undersecretary of defense under Aristide, told The Associated Press.

Elie said Haiti must find a way to defend its borders and restore national sovereignty after three years security provided by U.N. troops, but cautioned that "we have to make sure that this force is not a threat to stability and to democracy. (Safeguards have) to be built in."

Other members of the new commission, including academic Georges Michel, have advocated reconstituting the military. Several influential legislators in Haiti's Parliament also back a revival of the armed forces.

He said the panel is scheduled to convene Thursday, and will consult with Preval, legislators, U.N. officials and others before making recommendations. The study is expected to take months.