Above: a UN vehicle in Petion-Ville

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Trinidad and Tobago diplomat Sandra Honore has been named the new head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced this weekend.

Honore succeeds Mariano Fernandez, who concluded his term in January. Nigel Fisher has been serving as Acting Head of MINUSTAH in Haiti since Fernandez’s departure.

Honore has served as a diplomat in various posts since 1979, including in positions in the United States, Brazil and Costa Rica.

Ban again thanked Fernandez for his “determination and leadership of MINUSTAH during a critical period for Haiti with the transition to a new Government and a challenging security situation.”

Honore will begin her duties, which also include being Ban’s Special Representative in Haiti, in mid-July.