Last month in Nairobi, the Kenyan cabinet approved sending 1,000 policemen to Haiti to lead a multinational force against gang violence happening over there.
Of course, past missions by international forces in Haiti have not had very happy outcomes: except for the very first one which ended with the French colonialists being driven out.
But one assumes that driving out United Nations peacekeepers is NOT considered a happy outcome: and their most recent mission ended with Haitians hitting the streets to demand their withdrawal.
Apart from a number of scandals, there was a cholera outbreak caused by UN soldiers. This may remind you of a time long before even the French colonialists, when Columbus and sundry Spanish conquistadors were accused of bringing terrible diseases to the New World, and especially to the Caribbean. But at least–at least!–the Europeans took one or two new diseases back home with them as well, according to some reports.
Which does make you feel a BIT BETTER.
The more recent cholera outbreak in Haiti is actually thought to have been caused by infected Nepalese soldiers. Nepal is right next to India, of course. Hey, don’t look at me! I’m not responsible!
Then again, I wonder where NEPAL got its cholera from in the first place. Well, here’s a clue: The world’s FIRST-EVER cholera pandemic started in the year 1817, around the city of … Calcutta, which is where I live.
Hey, I’m still not personally responsible! I wasn’t around at the time!
Hundreds of thousands of people in India died during that outbreak, apart from many deaths in other countries. But at least–at least!–ten thousand British troops in India died as well!
Which does make you feel a BIT BETTER.