SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (CMC) —Security along the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti has been increased following plans by the United Nations to withdraw is peacekeepers, MINUSTAH from Haiti.

On Friday, Defense minister Rubén Darío Paulino said the number of Dominican troops will be gradually increased all along 391-kilometer border until November.

“On November 7, they’ll be withdrawn (Peacekeepers) entirely, we as armed forces will deploy the necessary equipment of both the Army and Border Security to strengthen our border. We are in sufficient capacity to do so,” he said.

Paulino’s statement follows a warning from National Investigations Department (DNI) director Siegfried Pared that the withdrawal of MINUSTAH troops from Haiti would force beefed up surveillance along the border.

Last week, the head of the United Nations Stabilization mission Sandra Honoré, said the mission will cease operations in Haiti within six months.

Addressing the United Nations Security Council, Honoré said that the progress achieved during the past 13 years in Haiti’s stabilisation process is notable and it “is therefore timely to reshape the partnership among the international community, the United Nations and Haiti with a view to ensuring the sustainability of this progress.

The UN mission, established in June 2004 by a UN Security Council resolution, succeeded a Multinational Interim Force (MIF) after then President Bertrand Aristide departed Haiti for exile in the aftermath of an armed conflict, which spread, to several cities across the country.

In January 2010, the Security Council, by resolution, endorsed the Secretary-General’s recommendation to increase the overall force levels of MINUSTAH to support the immediate recovery, reconstruction and stability efforts in the country.

Following the completion of Presidential elections in 2011, MINUSTAH has been working to fulfill its original mandate to restore a secure and stable environment, to promote the political process, to strengthen Haiti’s government institutions and rule-of-law-structures, as well as to promote and to protect human rights.