News
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Haiti Report for July 25, 2006 |
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Haiti Report for July 25, 2006 The Haiti Report is a compilation and summary of events as described in Haiti and international media prepared by Konbit Pou Ayiti/KONPAY. It does not reflect the opinions of any individual or organization. This service is intended to create a better understanding of the situation in Haiti by presenting the reader with reports that provide a variety of perspectives on the situation. To make a donation to support this service: Konbit Pou Ayiti, 7 Wall Street, Gloucester, MA, 01930. IN THIS REPORT: US TSA Says Port-au-Prince Airport has Resolved Security Problems: Security problems at Haiti’s Port-au-Prince airport have been resolved, the U.S. government said Tuesday. On Dec. 22, 2004, the Transportation Security Administration announced that the airport’s security measures didn’t meet international standards. Airlines and airports were asked to tell passengers traveling between the United States and Haiti that there were security lapses at the airport. ”Now that the government of Haiti has made the appropriate corrective actions, the Secretary of Homeland Security has notified Haitian government officials that the public notification requirements are being lifted,” the agency said in a statement. TSA spokeswoman Amy von Walter said the agency worked with Haitian authorities to bring the airport up to international security standards. She would not discuss the nature of the problems or what was done to address them. TSA assesses security at foreign airports. If the agency finds inadequate security, the Homeland Security secretary must tell the foreign government and recommend changes. (AP, 7/18) Florida Judge Rules Former Haitian Military’s Lottery Winnings can go to Victims’ Families: Klaus said he will appeal Farris’ decision and ask her to keep the money in the account until all legal actions are exhausted. Klaus said Farris issued her ruling orally and is now preparing a formal written order. The ruling was a victory for the San Francisco-based Center for Justice & Accountability, which sued Dorelien for the money. But CJA officials were circumspect about the matter because Farris’ order is not final until it’s in writing. ’’We are not in a position to comment because we do not yet have a final written order from the judge,’’ said CJA litigation director Matt Eisenbrandt. Dorelien won the jackpot in 1997, but did not take a lump sum payment because that option was not available at the time. He was deported in 2003 after an immigration judge found him to be a human rights violator. He has denied any responsibility in the two-day rampage at Raboteau, a poor seaside neighborhood of Gonaves in Haiti, where at least 26 unarmed men, women and children were killed. Human rights advocates blamed the massacre on several Haitian officials at the time, including Dorelien — not because he was involved but because the soldiers linked to the killings were nominally under his command. (Miami Heald, 7/19) Demonstration for the Return of President Aristide on July 15 in Port-au-Prince: Police pushed back several protesters but the confrontation did not escalate to violence. Still, the show of force prompted many to turn back, fearful of a clash. ”If there’s blood it will be on your hands!” a man yelled at police before they yielded. ”We voted for Preval on the condition that he bring back Aristide. That’s the will of the people,” said Bruce Pierre Richard, 21. ”The international community doesn’t want Aristide to come back, so they’re pressuring Preval to keep him out,” said demonstrator Harold Lafaliese, 40. (AP, 7/15) Thousands of supporters of exiled former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide took to the capital’s streets on Saturday to call for his return and demand political prisoners be freed. The protest in Port-au-Prince, which witnesses said included about 30,000 people, was largely peaceful apart from a brief standoff with U.N. peacekeepers and riot police. ”We want Aristide back because he is Haitian, not South African,” said Jean Woody Pierre-Paul, a spokesman for the marchers. The demonstrators called on newly elected President Rene Preval, a one-time ally of Aristide’s, to free all political prisoners jailed under the previous interim administration of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue. The crowd, mainly from the slums where Aristide and Preval drew most of their support, also called for public employees fired en masse by the Latortue government to be given back their jobs. The protesters almost clashed with police and U.N. peacekeepers when they were barred from approaching the presidential palace. Most scattered when Haitian security forces pulled their guns and threatened to shoot. But several thousand protesters managed to force their way through. “I can’t believe that under Preval the population can be barred from demonstrating in front of the presidential palace,” said Josias Mathurin, a protester. “We spent two years fighting the interim government to regain this right,” he said. (Reuters, 7/15) Preval Appoints Former Police Official to Top Security Post: New Press and Communications Director for Prime Minister: “For my part, being the author of several books of political history and analysis, I deplored the partisan, passionate and lazy state of the Haitian press. Referring to the memorable elections of 1990 I also insisted on the necessity of utilizing two journalistic means almost forgotten – investigative journalism and analysis & commentaries – in order to establish a professional body with rigorous standards, with the quest for excellence and in the best interests of the general population. All this is, of course, an integral part of a functioning society, of intellectual development, of respect for principles and academic standards. Like all changes in mentality, that in the media, calls for continuous training and in addition, an improvement in working conditions for Haitian journalists, whose salaries are almost negligible. We must stress this emphatically. I should mention, in finishing, that those problems facing journalists are as difficult as the challenges facing our society. One sheds light on the other.” (Haiti Support Group, 7/14) Former Official Accuses Latortue of Corruption: CEP Blames Financial Problems for Delay in Setting Election Date: Massacre in Grand Ravine Not a Spontaneous Attack: New Wave of Violence in Port-au-Prince: The United Nations team for one believes someone is out to discredit Preval’s name. ”We are here to keep those who want to destabilize the country and the government from doing so,” UN peacekeeping force spokesman David Wimhurst told AFP. His 7,500-strong MINUSTAH team has soldiers ranging from Brazil to Sri Lanka. Troops from both countries had to be hospitalized this week from gun battle wounds. The Brazilians were injured in the Cite shantytown, an area that has been all but ceded to armed gangs. ”There are clear indications that someone wants to disturb the climate,” Wimhurst said. Preval however refuses to say the new violence is aimed at his leadership, just as it was aimed two years earlier against Aristide’s. He instead blames the unrest on drug gangs, and claims the political system is holding. ”The political insecurity is mainly under control,” Preval told a recent forum of business leaders from the Haitian diaspora. ”The instability that the country is seeing is the result of drug trafficking and the release from prison of kidnappers” that happened in the two years of mayhem before his election, Preval said. He called for the police force to be combed for criminals and the court system reformed of corruption. (AFP, 7/17) Fierce clashes have broken out between UN troops and gunmen in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, reports say. According to witnesses, between two and six people were killed in the clashes in the north of the city. UN officials were unable to confirm the deaths. Reports describe gangs going on the rampage and kidnappings taking place. ”Two ladies who work in a nearby factory were killed by bullets,” a young man who identified himself as Maxime told Reuters news agency. ”A man who was running away from the scene of the incidents was shot and fell on the ground,” he said. ”It was a real war,” another witness told Reuters. UN spokesman David Wimhurst said peacekeepers had come under attack and returned fire. The unrest follows a gang massacre in the Martissant neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince earlier this month, in which about 20 people died. (BBC News, 7/20) Two gunmen were shot to death on Thursday as gangs continued to battle Haitian police and U.N. troops in the troubled Caribbean nation, authorities said. The gunfights took place near the Cite Soleil slum not far from Haiti’s international airport, the same area where several people died in gunfire on Wednesday. ”They (gunmen) attacked us. We returned fire and two were killed,” said Frantz Lerebours, a spokesman for the Haitian police. “We are not going to surrender the country to bandits.” He said one police officer was wounded during the clashes. A U.N. spokeswoman said no peacekeepers were hurt. Five people died on Wednesday in similar incidents. Four were killed in Port-au-Prince and a policeman was gunned down in the northern city of Gonaives. Authorities could offer no immediate explanation for the surge in gunfire and kidnappings in recent days. At least nine people were abducted on Wednesday, according to police sources and radio reports. (Reuters, 7/21) New Wave of Kidnappings in Port-au-Prince: The United Nations, which has about 8,800 peacekeepers in the country, believes that much of the violence is aimed at destabilizing the new government. But Preval says drug traffickers, corrupt police and other criminals are behind the problems. The special U.N. envoy to Haiti, Edmond Mulet, met with Preval on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the deteriorating security climate, officials said. On Wednesday, gunmen stopped dozens of cars traveling along a main road leading to the airport in the impoverished capital and tried to seize the occupants, Dallemand said. At least two Haitians were reported kidnapped. The attacks were followed by heavy shooting that killed at least six people and injured several others in different parts of the capital, radio Kiskeya reported, suggesting a level of coordination among the gangs not seen in months. It is unclear how long Barron and Seastrum have been in Haiti. Dallemand said the two were staying at a hotel in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Delmas, where many kidnappings occur. Dallemand said the FBI is working with U.N. and Haitian authorities to free the men, the latest foreign missionaries to be kidnapped. Last month, Canadian missionary Ed Hughes was abducted from a rural town north of Port-au-Prince where he runs an orphanage. The 72-year-old was freed a week later after an undisclosed ransom was paid. At least 29 people have been reported kidnapped in Haiti so far in July, and about a third of them are U.S. citizens, Dallemand said. Last year, 40 Americans were kidnapped in Haiti and three more were killed in attempted abductions, according to the U.S. State Department. (AP, 7/20) In less than 24 hours an upstate New York man was kidnapped, robbed and released – without providing the ransom demanded by his captors, his longtime friend said. Charles Adams, of Queensbury, was in Haiti working on a water treatment program for Pure Water of the World, a Rutland, Vt.-based nonprofit organization, when he and his driver were captured just after 6 p.m. Wednesday, said Saundra Aubin, a friend and colleague who has been in contact with Adams since his release. ”I heard that the kidnappers were actually polite,” Aubin told the Associated Press. “He and his driver had a room to themselves to sleep in last night.” He was released at about 8 a.m. Thursday with minor injuries from the initial struggle when his kidnappers grabbed him, she said. Rep. John Sweeney’s office was told by the State Department and multiple sources that no ransom was paid for the release, but the kidnappers took Adams’ clothes, computer and money, said Rob Doherty, a spokesman for the Clifton Park Republican. The captors had asked for $500,000 in exchange for Adams and $70,000 for his driver, Aubin said. It was unclear why they dropped the demand, but Aubin said that Adams is “a very charismatic person.” His driver escaped earlier in the morning when the kidnappers allowed him to use the bathroom, Aubin said. The bathroom had no roof and the driver managed to escape by climbing out, she said. Adams stayed with a friend in Haiti Thursday night. He declined to immediately comment on his experience. ”He sounded just very, very tired,” Aubin said. “He actually just had a pacemaker put in. I can’t remember the date, but his stitches weren’t even healed when he went down.” Adams’ parents were missionaries and he first went to Haiti with his mother before she passed away. This was his third trip to Haiti this year, and he has long been committed to helping the people of Haiti improve the quality of their water supply, Aubin said. ”He hopes to stay and continue what he went down there for,” Aubin said. Adams’ ordeal was separate from the kidnapping and release of two U.S. missionaries in Port-Au-Prince. Tom Barron and William Eugene Seastrum, both of High Point, North Carolina, were released Thursday after their families paid an undisclosed ransom, the FBI said. (AP, 7/20) A new rash of kidnappings has raised fears that well-armed, politically aligned street gangs are seeking to destabilize Haiti’s new government, threatening U.N.-led efforts to restore security 2 1/2 years later. Others say the gangs are simply after cash and see kidnappings as a lucrative source of revenue to buy more arms and fuel other criminal enterprises in this impoverished country. But most agree on one thing – the problem is getting worse. It reached boiling point this week when scores of people – including three Americans – were snatched by gunmen in an unprecedented series of bold, daylight attacks in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Almost no one has been spared – missionaries, employees of foreign embassies and Haitians rich and poor have fallen victim to the trend that has given Haiti the highest kidnapping rate in the Americas. “We are beyond afraid,” said Patrick Gadere, owner of ceramic tile factory that has been forced to close its warehouse because of violence and whose brother was abducted. “We’ve been shot at, robbed, kidnapped. We have no other way to make a living.” The kidnapping surge has destroyed a tense calm that prevailed since President Rene Preval took power in May, and prompted new criticism against the U.N. peacekeeping force. At least 30 people have been kidnapped so far in July, about the same number for all of June, said Leslie Dallemand, chief of the U.N.’s anti-kidnapping unit in Haiti. The number is likely much higher because many families prefer to negotiate with kidnappers rather than notify police. ”I haven’t had this high of volume since last year,” when gangs went on a kidnapping spree before elections, Dallemand said. Among the victims were three Americans, including two missionaries grabbed by gangsters on their way to church. All three were released unharmed Thursday after negotiations involving the FBI. Charles Adams, a 70-year-old from Queensbury, N.Y., was working on a water treatment program. He was stuck in traffic, driving back from a meeting, when armed men ambushed his vehicle near the capital’s international airport. ”All the sudden I looked up, doors were being ripped open and there were all these people with revolvers and long guns walking around. It was quite an awakening,” said Adams, who was freed after a day without paying a ransom. The abductions come amid sharply rising violence in the capital, including this month’s slum massacre of 22 people. Police blamed the killings on warring gangs but have made no arrests. U.N. and Haitian officials disagree on whether the recent violence is politically motivated. The U.N. mission says the coordinated nature of the recent attacks suggest an attempt to stir chaos by the gangs, many of which are loyal to Aristide and are demanding his return from exile in South Africa. ”Their violence is motivated to draw attention to the government that they are dissatisfied,” U.N. spokesman David Wimhurst said. “It obviously has a destabilizing effect.” But Preval insists the troubles are criminal – not political – acts by wanted fugitives, corrupt police and drug traffickers. Members of Preval’s Lespwa party and the business community are calling on the 8,800-strong U.N. peacekeeping mission to take a harder line against gangs. ”This is the first time in our country’s history that we’ve had so many armed forces and yet we’re still in this mess,” said Gadere, the tile factory owner. U.N. and police officials say they’re doing all they can and blame Haiti’s notoriously corrupt justice system for releasing suspected kidnappers and other criminal suspects who can afford bribes. ”We can’t keep criminals off the streets if the courts keep letting them go,” police chief Mario Andresol said. Kidnappings were once rare in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The trend flourished after Aristide’s departure but leveled off shortly after elections in February. Foreigners have been particularly vulnerable because they fetch a higher ransom, usually around $10,000, compared to about half that for a Haitian. Last year, 43 Americans were kidnapped in Haiti, including three who were killed in attempted abductions, according to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs. ”We have agents down there almost constantly working kidnappings,” said Judy Orihuela, an FBI special agent in Miami. “It’s surpassed Colombia.” (AP, 7/22) European NGOs Offer Analysis of the Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF): 1) ˇ The ICF’s serious shortcomings with regard to economic recovery, particularly in agriculture. The paper refers to figures compiled by the Cellule du Coordination Strategique of the Haitian Prime Minister’s office in May 2006 which indicate that the agricultural sector has received 74% less funding than the original ICF plans had identified this sector would need. Rapid job creation received 87% less than identified in 2004. Aside from quantity, the paper also questions the quality of ICF assistance. The CoE-H asserts that the ICF is a very piecemeal attempt at agricultural regeneration that has failed to address the twin issues of developing competitive agricultural supply chains and reducing Haiti’s huge dependence on food imports (accounting for 80% of its export earnings). The CoE-H calls on donors and the Haitian government to: 2) ˇ The lack of civil society participation in the ICF, from its inception through to implementation, monitoring and evaluation over the past two years. The poorest and most marginalized sectors of Haitian civil society – those who are supposed to benefit most from the ICF – have been completely absent from any consultation processes. The CoE-H calls on donors and the Haitian government to: The Coordination Europe-Haiti (CoE-H) a network of European solidarity and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working directly with Haitian partner NGOs and grassroots movements. COE-H incorporates 60 organisations in 8 European countries: Belgium, Netherlands, France, United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Spain and Switzerland. The CoE-H works closely with Coordination Haiti-Europe (CoH-E) in Haiti, formed by Haitian NGOs to engage with European NGOs and the EU. The full paper can be read online at: www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org/whats_new_index.html (Haiti Support Group, 7/19) July 25th International Donors’ Conference on Haiti: seriously and is already adopting measures in order to ensure its success. ”The President of the Republic René Préval, Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis and other personalities and friends of the international community are directly getting involved in preparation for this conference,” underlined the coordinator of the conferences? technical secretariat, taking advantage of the opportunity to also minimize rumors claiming that President Préval wasn’t doing well. In terms of the conference, Anthony Dessources stated that the government will keep track of who was programmed into the conference within the framework of the CCI, what was spent, what savings remain and to see how such savings could be better used and redirected towards the priorities of the government. It will also be the occasion, he said, to see what kinds of funding can be mobilized within this framework to complete the programs and projects envisioned for President Préval?s five-year term. Invited to specify the amount already released by donors within the CCI’s framework, Anthony Dessources was careful not to comment since he wasn’t sure of the numbers. He stated however that there is a problem in following up when it comes to this dossier. Of the 1.2-billion dollars promised, 964-million were handed over to the interim authorities over the past two years. (AHP, 7/12) The International Fund Providers Conference that will begin on Tuesday in Haiti, with attendance of a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) delegation, has boosted expectations in the country. The results of that meeting will be determining to finish important lines of the national budget for the fiscal year 2006-2007. Economy and Finance Minister Daniel Dorsainvil confirmed that President Rene Preval´s government will wait for this delegation´s visit to officially announce the State budget for that period. Nobody knows exactly how much money will be allocated to the social sector, but payments in the last years have been increasingly questioned by the Haitian social movements. Preval revealed that his government is getting ready for the International Fund Providers Conference, and its strategy is undoubtedly aimed to facilitate three priorities: road infrastructure, tourism, and agriculture. (Prensa Latina, 7/22) The Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) will participate in the fifth aid donors conference on Haiti’s future social and economic development in Port-au-Prince tomorrow. Both the 34-member hemispheric body and the 15-member Community have stated that they are looking forward to “specific development priorities” emerging from tomorrow’s one-day meeting. OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin told the Express in a telephone interview yesterday that the time had come for “us (the member states) to shift the focus from Haiti as a ‘problem’ to that of a ‘solution’ now that a democratically elected President and government are in place”. Ramdin, who will represent the OAS at the meeting, noted that since the political crisis of 2004 with the downfall of the administration of then President Jean Bertrand Aristide, there have been four aid conferences under the rubic of an “Interim Cooperation Framework on Haiti”. The first conference took place in Washington, DC in cooperation with the United Nations and the World Bank. “What is now most desirable”, said the OAS envoy,”is that without minimising the importance of strengthening the security environment, clear priorities are established for social development and economic progress. The OAS Secretariat would be keen to learn of President Rene Preval’s priorities.” In a subsequent telephone interview with Caricom Secretary General Edwin Carrington from Georgetown, he disclosed that the Community’s two-member team for tomorrow’s meeting will comprise Assistant Secretary General for Foreign and Community Relations, Colin Granderson, and Hugh Cholomondeley, chairman of Caricom’s Task Force on Haiti. ”The Community’s interest in tomorrow’s meeting on Haiti’s future development”, said Carrington, “would reflect the spirit of discussions already held with President Preval at the 27th Heads of Government Conference held earlier this month in Basseterre.” ”Those discussions”, he added, led to, for instance, an agreement for a Caricom Technical Mission to travel to Haiti to make on-the-spot assessment of specific needs to which the Community could assist out of its own limited resources while continuing to lobby for international development assistance” Infrastructure needs identified in Caricom’s talks with Preval included road construction, sanitation, pure water supply and health facilities. In addition to Caricom’s impending technical mission to Haiti, the conference in Basseterre also agreed to send a representative ministerial mission to demonstrate the Community’s “keen interest” in and support for the Haitian people. (Trinidad and Tobago Express, 7/24) Haiti will ask for $7 billion from international donors meeting in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday to help the troubled Caribbean country revive its moribund economy, a government minister said. Haitian Foreign Affairs Minister Renald Clerisme said on Monday that the government needs several billion dollars to implement medium- and long-term projects likely to have a sustainable impact on the social and economic situation in the poorest country in the Americas. ”We are seeking $7 billion in the long term,” Clerisme told Reuters. “But what we need for the next months and the next fiscal year is about $500 million.” Road building, agriculture, tourism and institutional reform projects top the long list of proposals Haiti will present to international donors. About 40 delegations from bilateral and multilateral institutions have registered to take part in the conference, including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the European Union and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, Thomas Shannon, and the U.N. Development Program’s director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Rebeca Grynspan, also will attend the meeting. The new government led by President Rene Preval and Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis is counting on the meeting to help it access badly needed funding for capital spending and operating costs. The government has been unable to submit its budget to Parliament for approval because it could not provide funding detail until it receives donors’ pledges, officials said. ”We need to know the commitment of the international donors before we can actually plan what we’re going to do,” Finance Minister Daniel Dorsainvil said. The donor community pledged $1.3 billion in July 2004 to help Haiti rebuild after a bloody rebellion toppled the government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide five months earlier. The interim government that replaced Aristide complained that less than half that amount had actually been disbursed. But diplomats said Haiti’s very weak absorption capacity and fund release procedures were among the reasons for slow and delayed disbursements. The U.N. Development Program’s representative in Haiti, Adama Guindo, said donors have been working to simplify procedures, especially in the case of Haiti, which is recovering from a conflict, while ensuring funds are used properly. (Reuters, 7/24) The Inter-American Development Bank is making the collection of trash in urban areas among its short-term areas of priorities in Haiti. In a meeting held at the Presidential Palace with President René Préval, Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis and members of the national cabinet, yesterday, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno said the IDB would respond to short-term urgencies like garbage collection. Earlier this month, the IDB approved a US$50 million soft loan that is slated to also help areas like densely populated Carrefour with trash collection. The plan is to reorganize trash by placing large dumpsters in areas that generate great amounts of solid waste and small bins along the main roads. The metropolitan trash collection service is set to be reinforced with extra trucks. Carrefour’s collector roads are also slated to be improved in order to ease traffic congestion and provide greater access for trash collection trucks and public transportation. Trash has emerged as a health and environmental problem in Haiti, home to about 8 million people with garbage piling up on streets, especially in the capital and filling, streams, waterways and open sewers. And government has seemed unable to boost the trucks needed to cart away the rubbish or the incineration facilities to destroy it. In the medium term, however, they will concentrate on basic infrastructure such as transportation, electricity and drinking water services, agriculture and education. In addition, in response to a request from President Préval, the IDB will support the government’s efforts to engage the Haitian Diaspora to increase their involvement in local investment and strengthening the public sector. The IDB also said it expects to provide support for private sector development, ranging from loans for expanding cellular telecommunications coverage to improving the business climate and fostering microfinance. The disclosure came as the international donors conference for Haiti got underway yesterday. The United States is among participating international donor countries. The conference wraps up today and pledges from the international community are scheduled for the July 25 session. Almost 30 countries and international organizations are participating in the conference, which includes the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and CARICOM, a 15-nation bloc of Caribbean nations. At a July 2004 donors’ conference for Haiti held in Washington, the international community pledged $1.3 billion in Haitian assistance. The goal of the Port-au-Prince event is to raise a similar amount following Préval’s February 7 election as Haiti’s president and his subsequent May 14 inauguration. (Hardbeatnews.com, 7/25) |
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