18622: Esser: UN urges unhindered humanitarian access to Haiti's north (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

UN News Centre
http://www.un.org

UN urges unhindered humanitarian access to Haiti's north

13 February 2004 - The United Nations is calling for a humanitarian
corridor to be established in Haiti to allow aid workers access to
the country's north, which has been cut off for days because of the
violence convulsing the Caribbean nation's cities.

Haiti's three main northern cities - Cap-Haïtien, Port-de-Paix and
Fort Liberté - are largely out of reach of humanitarian assistance
since armed insurgents last week seized control of the central and
strategically significant city of Gonaïves.

At a press conference in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, the
UN's Resident Coordinator Adama Guindo also called for the sanctity
of hospitals to be respected.

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
reported today that several hospitals have been targeted by
protesters and Port-au-Prince's university hospital has not operated
"for several weeks."

In a statement OCHA added that the functioning hospitals are
over-stretched and that many lack such essentials as a water supply,
blood banks, refrigeration and drugs.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has also reported that schools are
only opening intermittently during the current political crisis and
many teachers have deserted their posts.

An inter-agency mission from the UN has been in Haiti since Sunday to
assess how best to respond to the humanitarian dimension of the
violence gripping the country in recent weeks. Dozens of people have
been killed during clashes between opponents and supporters of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

.