CaribWorldNews, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. April 15, 2008: The U.N. Security Council yesterday joined Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti in urging for calm to be returned to the Caribbean nation.

The UN call comes following Saturday’s execution-style killing of a 36-year-old Nigerian police officer serving with peacekeeping operations in Haiti.

The plainclothes cop was with three other members of his formed Police Unit near the cathedral in the Bel-Air district of the capital, Port-au-Prince, when he was dragged from his car and shot dead by unidentified gunmen, according to the MINUSTAH.

The murder took place two days after another gun attack on three blue helmets serving with MINUSTAH, and comes amid violent unrest across Haiti over the past week because of a recent spike in the price of basic foods.

`The Secretary-General… emphasizes that peace and stability constitute essential conditions for social and economic development, as well as to promote investments and job creation, which, together with the immediate measures announced by the Haitian authorities, constitute the best ways, in the medium-term, to fight against the increase in the cost of living,` SG Ban said yesterday.

Security Council members also decried the attack and stressed the need to maintain public order in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and the scene of widespread public protests against the rising cost of living.

In a press statement, the Council urged international donors to provide emergency relief as a priority to alleviate the suffering for Haitians. The World Bank has announced a $10 million grant to help the Government respond, with food to be allocated specifically for children and other vulnerable groups.

Last Thursday, three UN peacekeepers from Sri Lanka were shot while on patrol in the capital, but their injuries are not considered life-threatening. On Saturday, members of the national Senate voted to dismiss Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis.

In a separate statement MINUSTAH said it hoped a new government could be quickly formed and Haiti could return to its efforts to rebuild after years of misrule and suffering.

`The reform process must continue. At the same time, Haitians must work together to consolidate the stability and the progress which they have realized.`