18557: (Chamberlain) UN says food aid in north Haiti hit by violence (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     ROME, Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.N. food aid distribution has collapsed in
northern Haiti due to the eruption of an armed revolt in the impoverished
country a week ago, a senior official said on Friday.
     The World Food Programme (WFP), which operates school feeding
programmes in the Caribbean island state, this week expressed concern over
unrest after clashes between armed groups and police in the central city of
Gonaive resulted in the partial closure of the road between Port-au-Prince
and Port-de-Paix and Cap Haitien.
     "The security situation, particularly in the north, is very bad,"
Jean-Jacques Graisse, senior deputy executive director of the Rome-based
WFP, told Reuters in an interview.
     "We are very concerned that if the situation continues to deteriorate,
people will resort to looting of our warehouses, which is unfortunately
quite possible," he added.
     An armed revolt broke out last Thursday against the government of
former Roman Catholic priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government, whose
critics have become disenchanted with his rule as the country's 8 million
people remain mired in poverty.
     Graisse said the problem of malnutrition for children in the north of
the Western Hemisphere's poorest country has always been "fairly serious."
     "The fact that now food will no longer be moving will make matters
much worse," he added.
     "We now have serious problems in getting the food through by road to
the north because the security situation no longer permits trucks to go
through any more," he said.
     Asked if WFP's food aid distributions had now collapsed in Haiti,
Graisse said, "Particularly in the north, definitely."
     During February, WFP needs to deliver a total of 1,400 tonnes of
cereals to its warehouses in Cap Haitien and Bombardopolis, to assist
268,000 people in the north and northwest parts of the country.
     These include 87,000 people severely affected by drought and recurrent
flooding, 90,000 schoolchildren, and 91,000 vulnerable people, including
pregnant mothers and HIV/AIDS orphans.
     Security of humanitarian food convoys is a major concern for the food
aid agency.
     Since the end of November 2003, there have been eight attacks on
trucks carrying WFP food, during which 61 tonnes of food was lost.