Canadian troops taking part in a U.S.-led multinational task force in Haiti will be home by mid-August as the United Nations deploys its own peacekeepers to the war-torn country, their commander said Thursday.
There will be enough replacement troops in Haiti to replace the task force, sent after a three-week rebellion culminated in February in the bloody ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Lt.-Col. Jim Davis said in a conference call from Haiti.
It will only be a matter of weeks before more than 60 per cent of the 6,000-member UN force is deployed, he said.
"There are sufficient forces on the ground now to ensure continued stability until the arrival of (all of) the UN forces some time in the middle or third week of August," Col. Davis said.
The once-volatile and heavily populated areas of Port-au-Prince and Gonaives are secure, so the task force will focus over the next few weeks on remote areas where there is still no UN presence, he added.
"As UN military forces are flown in, they'll go to these cities in order of priority."
While the task force is poised to hand over peacekeeping duties in the ravaged country, Col. Davis said his troops - most of whom were deployed just after the rebellion - are ready to come home.
"I'm certainly seeing some signs of physical strain, and I think there will be welcome relief for them to go home," he said.
"Like everybody, they enjoy spending some summer holidays with our families and children and I believe that many of them are ready to go home and do just that."
The U.S.-led force, which included about 500 Canadian troops, was officially replaced by a Brazilian-led UN peacekeeping mission at the end of June.
"Canadian peacekeepers have come here with a mandate to ensure peace and security," said Col. Davis. "We have done everything we can to help the average Haitian's way of life."
And while the task force prepares to fully hand over the Haiti operation to UN troops, Mr. Aristide's removal from power is still not without its opponents.
On Wednesday, thousands of the former president's supporters marched through the slums of Port-au-Prince to demand his return.
Waving posters of the deposed leader, about 2,000 people flowed through the narrow streets of several Port-au-Prince slums before marching past the U.S. Embassy.
Protesters burned small coffins bearing the names of interim prime minister Gerard Latortue and other officials from the U.S.-backed interim government.
Mr. Aristide, in exile in South Africa, has accused the United States of helping to orchestrate the coup, a claim Washington has denied.