The Foreign Service Journal, September 2006

force. Returning to Bujumbura after 10 years in Montreal, he was passionate in arguing that the biggest problem in countries like Burundi was the mistreatment and lack of respect for workers, and urged that the U.N. attempt to address this within the realm of its engagement with the local work force. Ntibuberwa’s own efforts had demonstrated results — some 30 percent of the local security personnel at the mission were female, an extraordinary development in the African context. In countries such as Burundi, the U.N. presence and the onset of a degree of normality resulted in some indigenous businessmen returning from abroad to play an important role. The degree to which these returning entrepreneurs can survive and flourish is a crit- ical indicator of whether the peacekeeping missions ulti- mately meet their objectives. Haiti was the only mission environment we examined where security threats seemed to ham- per activities in all spheres, including business. When I called at the office of one of the mission’s leading local contrac- tors, it turned out that, like many others, he was waiting out the lat- est round of troubles in Florida, so we had to talk by phone. He nevertheless provided some of the most insightful com- ments I’d heard anywhere on the economic effect of the U.N. presence. One of the biggest benefits of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, this businessman observed, was giving local enterprises an “alternative to having to deal only with the government power,” which has a pernicious influence on local business. Engage- ment with the U.N. had also exposed the business com- munity to higher international standards and pushed peo- F O C U S S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 6 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 49 They had had their hopes dashed by what they saw as a less-than-transparent U.N. contracting process biased toward external bidders. ThankYou for supporting ASAP Africa Cultivating Self-reliance in Southern Africa www.asapafrica.org #2658