Posted on January 20, 2010 by realistic bird
Al Manar
20/01/2010 Haiti’s ambassador to the United States called Tuesday for an end to the chaotic helicopter drops of earthquake aid, saying the general population needed stable relief.
“We don’t like it… because when they make (aid) drops, only the strong get it,” said Ambassador Raymond Joseph.
“There should be staging areas where the helicopters can land” and supplies handed out, he added.
Joseph called for getting the aid out of the airport to distribute it, saying that if the aid is not distributed, “it’s time for us to start pointing fingers.”
This official note on US control of the airport and the ‘relief operations’ in Haiti was accompanied by mixed feelings with regards to the presence of US armed forces who are expected to reach 10,000 American troops in this small country.
The US armed forces’ control of the Presidential palace and the hospital in the capital Port-au-Prince has also been a matter of concern.
The US troops deployment was not welcomed by Haitians as questions over Haitian sovereignty have surfaced.
“I haven’t seen the Americans in the streets giving out water and food, but now they come to the palace,” said Wilson Guillaume, a Haitian homeless living in the Champ de Mars square.
“It’s an occupation. The palace is our power, our face, our pride,” said another, Feodor Desanges.
Furthermore, the US military is to start operations at two other airports as Port-au-Prince’s damaged airport, equipped with a single strained runway, struggles to deal with over 200 aid flights a day.
The Pentagon told reporters Tuesday it would begin using other runways inside Haiti and across the border in the nearby Dominican Republic.
Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to boost the number of U.N. troops and police in Haiti by 3,500 to help maintain peace and security and support earthquake relief efforts.
By this reinforcement the full potential strength of the United Nations’ Haiti force, known as MINUSTAH, will rise to 12,651, up from the current level of around 9,000 and the number of US and UN troops in this 11,000 square mile Caribbean country will rise to some 23,000.
Many countries and agencies have complained that the US has monopolized operations in Haiti, especially the airport where US forces have redirected many non-American flights. The Red Cross and “Medecins Sans Frontieres” also complained about diverted flights.
Brazil warned it would not relinquish command of UN forces in Haiti, and France complained the airport had become a US ”annexes”.
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez also accused the US of using the tragedy to launch a military occupation of Haiti.
Who’s to do what in Haiti? Will the bleu helmets take over security from US troops? Will US troops pull back when UN soldiers arrive?
There is concern that the US is willing to set foot in Haiti to prevent Cuba and Venezuela from having a presence in the Caribbean country. Cuba had authorized US relief planes to conduct flight through its airspace from Florida to Haiti. Speculations are many, but there is a clear US interest in Haiti that is yet to unfold.
According to a foundation tracking charitable contributions, US donations to Haiti relief have reached 189.9 million dollars, a level similar to the outpouring of aid after the 2004 tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Earlier on Tuesday, more than 50 Haitian orphans landed in the United States and were immediately taken for medical check-ups, hospital officials said.
The chair of the Giving Institute, which advises charities, Nancy Raybin, said: “the news coming out daily just reinforces the need for America to help its island neighbor.”
However, many commentators see this “charity” as a US strategy aimed at controlling the Caribbean islands by taking control of Haiti after taking hold of the Dominican Republic.
Seven Days on, Rescue Efforts far from Over
Rescue efforts in Haiti still ongoing. Despite the pain, there was a rare moment of hope on Tuesday as rescue workers pulled an elderly woman out from under the collapsed home of Haiti’s archbishop.
The rescue team said it believed two more people were trapped alive under the same building.
Rescue workers said that Hoteline Losana was remarkable because she had no access to food or water for a full week.
They believed two more people were trapped alive under the same building.
On Tuesday, UN spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said 90 people had been pulled out alive since the earthquake, and rescue efforts were now concentrated outside the capital.
Seven days after the disaster, the Haitian government said that the number of people killed in the devastating earthquake has risen to 75,000, while 250,000 were injured and million left homeless.
Uprooted Palestinian
No comments:
Post a Comment