19344: (Chamberlain) Haitians loot or line up as food, water getting scarce

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Alistair Scrutton

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Thousands of Haitians either
looted or lined up for hours to get basic supplies like water and cooking
oil on Friday as a rebel advance on the capital sparked shortages and
massive price rises.
     "We don't know what is going to happen so we're buying anything we can
get our hands on," said 26-year-old Gunther Widmaire, his car packed with
bread, groceries and bottles of water.
      As armed rebels battling gangs loyal to President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide approached the capital, thousands of residents were stocking up on
anything they could afford. Water was selling at about 80 cents a gallon
(3.8 liter), nearly doubled from a couple of days ago.
     In the port area, looters carried away goods from shipping containers,
while Aristide supporters stripped a warehouse belonging to businessman
Smarck Michel, a former prime minister who turned against Aristide,
witnesses said.
     Street anarchy had reduced crucial foodstuffs for some 105,000 people
living in the capital who are dependent on World Food Program (WFP)
supplies. WFP-run health centers feeding pregnant women and HIV-positive
children were running out of basic cereals. Other centers had food but
could not open because of the lawlessness.
     "The problem is not availability. We have supplies," said WFP
spokesman Alejandro Chicheri. "The problem is that we can't get the food to
the people because of the security problems."
     "And of course it will be the poorest that suffer first," he added.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas.
     As Widmaire chatted in the market, a jeep filled with armed and hooded
pro-Aristide supporters -- the feared "chimeres" -- sped through the market
shouting "five years," the slogan used to demand Aristide stay in his full
five-year term to 2006.
     On the roads to this market area, every half-an-hour or so another
barricade of tree trunks or burning tires suddenly sprouted up from
nowhere, manned by gangs who defied the rebels by shouting "They are
putting us back into slavery."
     Haiti freed itself from slavery and French rule 200 years ago.
     In a nearby gas station, gasoline had doubled in price to $4 a gallon
(3.8 liter). Tempers flared as some one hundred Haitians lined up with
plastic bottles for cooking oil under a midday sun.
     "Everyone says things will get worse," said Rodrigue, a 32-year old
accountant as he waited to buy kerosene. Like many residents, he appeared
nervous about giving his full name.
     In Haiti, many basic food stuffs like rice and cooking oil are
imported. With rebels controlling half the country and the capital in
chaos, little new food was getting through.
     "We just selling what we have left," said Marlene, who nervously
stayed at the back of her shop in a garbage-strewn market as the chimeres
passed by.
    "After this we have nothing" she said.