MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile: Breaking News.

Headlines:
Chilean Antarctic affairs under Interior Ministry; British support for Chilean troops headed to Haiti.

Chilean Antarctic affairs under Interior Ministry

The Chilean Senate Fisheries and Maritime Interests Committee agreed to draft a bill which will transfer the Chilean Antarctic Institute from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Interior (Home Affairs). That was one of the several decisions reached last Tuesday in Puerto Williams where the Committee symbolically met to consider and listen demands from the fisheries and tourism sectors of Chilean Tierra del Fuego, as well as Antarctic affairs. Senator Jose Ruiz president of the Committee said that Chilean Antarctic affairs and interests will be better addressed and contemplated by transferring to the Interior Ministry the Antarctic Institute. Declaring the region a Biosphere Reserve and a laboratory for the permanent monitoring of red tide were two other local demands.

British support for Chilean troops headed to Haiti

Chilean Army troops belonging to the Fifth Division stationed in Punta Arenas are preparing for the United Nations peace keeping mission in Haiti. The local servicemen will be relieving Chilean battalions already stationed in the Caribbean war torn country next January, reports La Prensa Austral. Although Chilean Armed Forces are known for their professionalism this time the news is that Captain Mark Harrison from the British Army is training the outgoing troops in directing control posts. The whole operation that will be leaving Punta Arenas next December 26 involves ten officers, six corporals and sergeants and 143 servicemen among which Lieutenant woman who will be responsible for the Maintenance Department. The Punta Arenas contingent is made up from the local battalions and regiments and "it's the first time that the selected troops come from an only operative unit", pointed out General Luis Clavel, Commander of the Fifth Division. "Basic English, and law and order training, with the help from Carabineros, is part of the capability needed for the operation", added General Clavel. The Punta Arenas UN peace keeping contingent is scheduled to be posted for six months in Haiti.