United Nations, Oct 9, SPA -- U.N. peacekeepers will be needed in Haiti for at least another year because of a heightened risk of criminality, the United Nations Special Representative to Haiti said on Wednesday in a report to the Security Council. A series of four hurricanes ravaged the Caribbean country recently and forced almost 1 million people to leave their homes. In addition, a steep increase in the cost of food has added to the humanitarian situation in one of the world’s poorest countries. The one positive outcome to the humanitarian situation is that it forced the parliament and the executive branch to “unblock a political standoff that had lasted for nearly five months, and to generate a new, and urgently needed, sense of solidarity,” said Hedi Annabi, the special representative. Still, the threat of criminality, in particular kidnappings, remains high and will remain so until there is an improvement in the daily lives of Haitians, Hedi said. “Development is not of course the business of peacekeeping operations, although it is our job to create an environment conducive to economic and social development,” he added. “A poor, hungry, and desperate people is simply not compatible with stability.”--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/596282