Above: The UN’s Mariano Fernandez (UN Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The international community must ramp up its funding and development activities in Haiti, the UN’s top official in the country, Mariano Fernandez, said today, with the situation he described as “fragile.”

Fernandez, who is Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special representative in Haiti, warned that political tensions and socioeconomic conditions are threatening the country’s stability.

“The situation in Haiti continues to be fragile and reversals could generate a new crisis,” Fernandez told the Security Council today. “The future stability of Haiti and its eventual prosperity continue to depend on the political will of its leaders and citizens, as well as on the support of the Security Council and the international community as a whole,” he said.

According to the UN, only 37.8 percent of the funds promised to Haiti for 2010-2011 had been delivered.

“I am particularly concerned that this current unstable situation could deteriorate even further if the political situation remains unchanged and the socioeconomic situation is still not addressed,” he said.

UN figures show 634,000 people still remaining in camps after the 2010 earthquake in the country.