Haiti May Need International Help for 10 Years

NEW YORK, New York, March 11, 2004 (ENS) - The United Nations has launched a $35 million flash appeal to meet urgent humanitarian needs in the Caribbean country of Haiti, disturbed by violence and civil strife now and for months before former President Jean Bertrande Aristide was ousted February 29. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan says a sustained international effort to help Haiti is needed that could take 10 years or more.

Speaking Tuesday in Ottawa at a news conference following his address to the Canadian Parliament, Annan said, "I'm persuaded that we will be able to make progress, but that does take time. That will take time, a lot of time. It is not one year or two, it will take much more time. It could be 10 years or more. One must have patience."

"Half-hearted efforts of the past have been insufficient," Annan told the Canadian lawmakers, asking for sustained assistance for Haiti. "We cannot afford to fail this time."

An uprising by rebels opposed to the Aristide government appears to have come to an end following Aristide's departure for the Central African Republic, but now there is armed violence throughout the country. More than 3,000 prisoners were released, and then were armed by various gangs, while thousands of political activists are also carrying weapons. Looting, killing and arson are widespread in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

A pro-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide protester screams at a busload of supporters of 184 opposition groups visiting Cite Soleil, Haiti to hold a meeting Saturday, July 12, 2003. (Photo courtesy )

The first group from a United Nations multidisciplinary team arrived in Haiti Wenesday as humanitarian assessment missions resumed in the provinces. Currently, some 50 UN staff members are in Haiti.

"An inter-agency team, comprising representatives from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), is scheduled to assess needs in Gonaïves and Hinche today - if security conditions allow," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told journalists in New York.

An estimated three million people have been affected by the crisis, about 37 percent of the total population. The majority of these people live in Port-au-Prince, Gonaïves, Cap Haïtien, Saint Marc, Port-de-Paix and Hinche.

More than half of those affected by the upheaval are children under 18 years old, and an estimated 700,000 are women of childbearing age. Priority concerns are security, humanitarian access, food and medical aid, fuel, health care, and risk of disease.

Sectors included in the flash humanitarian appeal are agriculture, coordination and support services, education, food, health, protection, human rights and the rule of law, security, water and sanitation.

The flash appeal is aimed at meeting the most immediate needs of Haitians and establishing the basis for rehabilitation of social services and economic recovery - replenishing stocks, rehabilitating infrastructure, building capacity, advocating for human rights and humanitarian principles, and promoting disarmament and conflict resolution.

It sounds like a hopeful agenda, but representatives of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that in the near term Haitian farmers might be unable to sell their harvests and earn money to buy essential food.

Haitian boy in Port-au-Prince (Photo courtesy WFP)

The flash appeal runs in tandem with a consolidated appeal for $85 million launched last April to cover 18 months of humanitarian and other aid for the country of 8.3 million people.

But that drive has only received pledges of $38 million, so beyond food, water and sanitation, there is no money for other needs, such as economic recovery, one year after the appeal was launched, Egeland said.

"Haiti has by far the worst health indicators of the Americas before the crisis, with the highest infant and maternal mortality rates, the highest level of malnutrition and the highest percentage of people living with HIV/AIDS all over this hemisphere," he pointed out, appealing for donors to come forward with funds.

Around 1,000 troops have started to arrive in Haiti, part of an international force authorized by the United Nations, and it is expected to grow to about 5,000.

On Friday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) was able to distribute humanitarian food aid in Port-au-Prince. WFP spokesman Alejandro Chicheri said the agency moved a truck carrying 15 metric tons of food to two centers serving some of the capital city’s most vulnerable people. One metric ton of food is enough to feed 2,000 people for one day.

“At the moment we are going to send the food to the most severe cases,” said Chicheri.

If security conditions permit, the WFP will carry out its March deliveries to 66,000 people at 23 health centers in the capital. All the 94 schools in Port au Prince where 39,000 primary school students normally benefit from WFP food are still closed, the agency said.

In addition to the UN appeal, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) is appealing for $1.071 million to cover a nine month period.

The French Red Cross and the Netherlands Red Cross have also deployed delegates working on first aid and disaster preparedness and disaster preparedness and HIV/AIDS.

The United States has been Haiti's leading provider of economic aid, said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega (Photo courtesy OAS)

Noriega said that under the terms of a UN resolution, troops from the United States are in Haiti participating in the Multilateral Interim Force (MIF) to contribute to a secure and stable environment there.

He said that once the MIF ends its mission, the United States will support a UN stabilization force and will work with the UN and the Organization of American States to help the Haitian people rebuild their institutions, starting with the Haitian National Police.

In the shorter term, Noriega said the United States will almost certainly remain Haiti's leading provider of assistance.

If Haiti is ultimately to move forward, the assistant secretary emphasized, there must be a break from the past that unleashes the "incredible potential of the Haitian people in positive and productive directions."

"Support from the United States and the international community can help - and they will have it," he said, "but the long term job of building Haitian democracy is up to the Haitians themselves. They, above all people in our hemisphere, deserve some success."