20768: (Chamberlain) First shipload of food to head to Haiti's north (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, March 24 (Reuters) - U.N. aid workers on
Wednesday loaded up their first shipload of food for 180,000 Haitians who
have gone without help for over a month in the destitute north of the
revolt-torn Caribbean country.
     After delays caused by weeks of insecurity and a last-minute strike by
Port-au-Prince dockworkers demanding higher pay, 1,550 metric tons of
flour, vegetable oil and beans were expected to sail for the port city of
Cap-Haitien on Thursday morning.
     The first shipment by sea will supplement small convoys that began to
head north 12 days ago as the United Nations' World Food Program ramps up
efforts to feed malnourished Haitians left in even greater need by a
monthlong uprising against ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
     "We are extremely worried about all the kids in school and their
mothers who have not been able to receive any food for the last five
weeks," said WFP country representative Guy Gauvreau.
     Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas and a third of its 8
million people suffer from chronic malnutrition. Half the population earns
just $1 a day, not enough to fill their stomachs, and 70,000 children die
each year from starvation.
     The WFP estimates that the latest bout of violence has increased the
number of Haitians dependent on food handouts by 160,000 to more than half
a million.
     The security situation in Cap-Haitien remains tenuous three weeks
after 3,000 foreign troops, led by U.S. Marines, began to arrive to restore
order in the divided country.
     The city of 500,000 is still run by well-armed ex-soldiers who helped
drive Aristide into exile at the end of last month. Around 200 French
marines and 50 Haitian police have arrived in the past few days and are
also patrolling the streets.
     WFP food stocks warehoused in Cap-Haitien were sacked during the
uprising that began on Feb. 5, and some aid workers fear renewed looting
when the new supplies arrive late on Friday or early on Saturday.
     But Gauvreau said the agency had received assurances that the vessel
and its cargo would be protected by the rebels, and by French troops.
     "And we can't wait anymore," Gauvreau told Reuters at the
Port-au-Prince port as 80 containers were being loaded.
     The food will be delivered to 100 schools to feed 90,000 children, and
to 42 health clinics, where 91,000 people are expected to receive a share.