ECUADOR WILL MAINTAIN MINUSTAH COMMITMENT

UNCLAS QUITO 001922 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA/CAR, PMAT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPKO PREL HA UNSC SUBJECT: ECUADOR WILL MAINTAIN MINUSTAH COMMITMENT REF: STATE 125442 ¶1. (SBU) PolOffs met with MFA Director General for Multilateral Affairs Lourdes Puma on August 2 to deliver reftel talking points. Puma said the GOE will maintain its current support to MINUSTAH. Puma indicated the GOE will fully support an extension of the MINUSTAH mandate and that the GOE saw the August 4 Buenos Aires meeting as addressing coordination rather than reviewing country levels of commitment. (Note: Ecuador maintains no less than 66 troops as part of a combat engineering unit along the north coast of Haiti.) ¶2. (SBU) Puma stressed the importance of continued support to the troubled nation, and said that the GOE agreed with the U.S. on this issue. She asked that the U.S. do more to help secure additional donor funds for Haitian economic development. PolOffs conveyed reftel point that the U.S. had pledged $210 million to help fund infrastructure, economic, and social development projects in Haiti, and that pledged support had surpassed GOH expectations for 2007. BROWN