Outgoing Canadian envoy Giroux calls PM Fils-Aimé a 'responsible and responsive partner'

At the end of his diplomatic mission in Haiti, Canadian Ambassador André François Giroux described Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé as a 'responsible and responsive partner,' according to Le Nouvelliste. Canada had backed Fils-Aimé during his standoff with the Transitional Presidential Council (CPT). Asked whether he was satisfied with the direction of events, the planned elections and governance, Giroux said that would be 'above all for Haitian citizens to decide.' He added that when he needed the prime minister's assistance, Fils-Aimé was reactive. Giroux, who was recently named Canada's ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) and honored at the conclusion of his mission, also addressed the difficulty of deploying an international security force, saying such an operation could not materialize instantly: 'It's not by snapping your fingers that a mission of 5,000 people arrives.' Separately, Le Nouvelliste published Fils-Aimé's opening address on August 21 to national defense and security consultations under the theme 'What army for Haiti?' In that speech, the prime minister invoked 1804, when Haitians won their freedom, and called for consolidating the instruments of national sovereignty. He saluted the Defense Minister and the high command for their engagement.