Friday, October 22, 2004
U.N. sending more troops to Haiti
This is from www.bloomberg.com (Yes, I know, Bloomberg, sorry...)
UN Sending 3,000 Troops to Haiti to Stop Violence, Avert Exodus
Oct. 21 (Bloomberg)
The United Nations will send 3,000 troops to Haiti by the end of November to quell violence by armed gangs and ease the threat of a "boat people'' exodus from the poorest Caribbean nation after the destruction of Tropical Storm Jeanne, UN officials said.
Juan Gabriel Valdes, the UN's special representative to Haiti, said in a telephone interview that troops from Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jordan, Nepal, Peru, Spain and Sri Lanka are being rushed to the Caribbean nation following attacks by gangs loyal to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They will bring the Brazil-led UN force to 6,200.
Valdes said that while the security situation has improved in recent days, gunfire can be heard nightly in the capital Port- au-Prince, and dockworkers threatened by the gangs are afraid to unload humanitarian aid. Jan Egeland, the UN's humanitarian coordinator, told reporters in New York the gangs have "taken over large parts of Haiti, where women are systematically abused.''
Jeanne hit Haiti Sept. 17 and 18, flooding 80 percent of Gonaives, a northern coastal town with 200,000 residents, and killing at least 2,000 people. More than 100,000 Haitians remain dependent on food aid.
Egeland warned today that the U.S. could see a "lot of boat people the next few months'' unless Haiti is stabilized.
Gangs loyal to Aristide, who was forced from office in February and is now in South Africa, killed 30 people this month and organized a strike that brought the country to a standstill on Oct. 15. The U.S. authorized its embassy employees to leave the country, citing the escalation in violence.
South Africa this week rejected accusations from Haiti's interim prime minister, Gerard Latortue, that it was allowing Aristide to stir up trouble from exile.
IMF Postpones
Thomas Dawson, director of external relations for the International Monetary Fund, announced in Washington yesterday that the violence forced postponement of a planned mission to Haiti and that the lender's resident representative to the nation had been recalled to Washington.
"The situation has improved since Oct. 14, but that is not to say violence has disappeared,'' Valdes, a former Chilean diplomat, said from Port-au-Prince. "You hear shots in the night and people attack the police. Most of the violence is in the name of Aristide.''
UN truck convoys are moving safely from Port-au-Prince to Gonaives four times a week, and food aid isn't a problem, Egeland and Valdes said. Reconstruction of the city and the northern region remains a major concern, they said.
"It is incomprehensible how Haiti, so close to some of the richest countries in the world, has so little social investment,'' Egeland said. "Gonaives is a city of 200,000 drowned in mud and no one is digging it out. The food situation is promising, but all other elements of our programs are severely under funded.''
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, must cope with the flood devastation on top of obstacles such as illiteracy and AIDS that have crimped economic growth. Haiti had per capita income of about $1 a day last year, and the jobless rate runs as high as 60 percent, according to the World Bank.
To contact the reporter of this story:Bill Varner at the United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:Edward DeMarco in Washington at edemarco1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 21, 2004 16:36 EDT
UN Sending 3,000 Troops to Haiti to Stop Violence, Avert Exodus
Oct. 21 (Bloomberg)
The United Nations will send 3,000 troops to Haiti by the end of November to quell violence by armed gangs and ease the threat of a "boat people'' exodus from the poorest Caribbean nation after the destruction of Tropical Storm Jeanne, UN officials said.
Juan Gabriel Valdes, the UN's special representative to Haiti, said in a telephone interview that troops from Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Jordan, Nepal, Peru, Spain and Sri Lanka are being rushed to the Caribbean nation following attacks by gangs loyal to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They will bring the Brazil-led UN force to 6,200.
Valdes said that while the security situation has improved in recent days, gunfire can be heard nightly in the capital Port- au-Prince, and dockworkers threatened by the gangs are afraid to unload humanitarian aid. Jan Egeland, the UN's humanitarian coordinator, told reporters in New York the gangs have "taken over large parts of Haiti, where women are systematically abused.''
Jeanne hit Haiti Sept. 17 and 18, flooding 80 percent of Gonaives, a northern coastal town with 200,000 residents, and killing at least 2,000 people. More than 100,000 Haitians remain dependent on food aid.
Egeland warned today that the U.S. could see a "lot of boat people the next few months'' unless Haiti is stabilized.
Gangs loyal to Aristide, who was forced from office in February and is now in South Africa, killed 30 people this month and organized a strike that brought the country to a standstill on Oct. 15. The U.S. authorized its embassy employees to leave the country, citing the escalation in violence.
South Africa this week rejected accusations from Haiti's interim prime minister, Gerard Latortue, that it was allowing Aristide to stir up trouble from exile.
IMF Postpones
Thomas Dawson, director of external relations for the International Monetary Fund, announced in Washington yesterday that the violence forced postponement of a planned mission to Haiti and that the lender's resident representative to the nation had been recalled to Washington.
"The situation has improved since Oct. 14, but that is not to say violence has disappeared,'' Valdes, a former Chilean diplomat, said from Port-au-Prince. "You hear shots in the night and people attack the police. Most of the violence is in the name of Aristide.''
UN truck convoys are moving safely from Port-au-Prince to Gonaives four times a week, and food aid isn't a problem, Egeland and Valdes said. Reconstruction of the city and the northern region remains a major concern, they said.
"It is incomprehensible how Haiti, so close to some of the richest countries in the world, has so little social investment,'' Egeland said. "Gonaives is a city of 200,000 drowned in mud and no one is digging it out. The food situation is promising, but all other elements of our programs are severely under funded.''
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, must cope with the flood devastation on top of obstacles such as illiteracy and AIDS that have crimped economic growth. Haiti had per capita income of about $1 a day last year, and the jobless rate runs as high as 60 percent, according to the World Bank.
To contact the reporter of this story:Bill Varner at the United Nations at wvarner@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:Edward DeMarco in Washington at edemarco1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 21, 2004 16:36 EDT
