20848: (Chamberlain) Food ship arrives in Cap-Haitien (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By PAISLEY DODDS

   CAP-HAITIEN, March 26 (AP) -- A cargo ship bearing nearly 2,000 tons of
rice, beans and oil docked at this northern city Friday, promising relief
for thousands of Haitians desperate for food in the aftermath of a rebel
uprising.
   As the hulking ship pulled into port, about 30 armed rebels in fatigues
milled about, acting as security guards.
   "We won't tolerate any looting. If we have to patrol 24 hours we will,"
said rebel commander Michel Dieuseul, 53.
   Life has always been more of a struggle in Haiti's deforested,
flood-prone and isolated north. But it has become much more difficult since
rebels chose the region as the launchpad for last month's armed revolt.
   When the rebels took Cap-Haitien, the second-largest city, jubilant
residents looted 800 tons of food from a U.N. World Food Program warehouse,
and rebels did little to stop them.
   As the rebellion expanded, the insurgents blocked two main highways in
the north, preventing food and fuel deliveries and worsening already
desperate conditions.
   The revolt ended when President Jean-Bertrand Aristide stepped down and
went into exile Feb. 29. More than 300 people were killed during the
uprising, but the situation in the north could claim more lives.
   For weeks, northerners have been trying to make do without clean
drinking water, electricity, food and basic health care. Aid workers
estimate nearly 270,000 people need food aid in the north, and some babies
already are dying.
   Friday's aid shipment was the largest to the north since the crisis
began. The ship bore blue cargo containers carrying 1,700 tons of rice,
beans, cooking oil and other staples sent by the World Food Program.
   "After the food is secured and unloaded, we'll begin our distribution,
which will take about 10 days," said Inigo Alvarez, of the U.N. agency.
   The new shipment was destined for the same warehouse that was looted.
But the food will be kept at the port terminal until the warehouse's roof,
damaged by recent storms, can be repaired.
   "The situation is not like what it was before. Today we're ready to
secure everything," Dieuseul said.
   French troops patrolling outside the gated port planned to secure the
shipment once it is moved to the WFP warehouse, said Maj. Xavier Pons, a
spokesman for the French forces.
   The shipment will help feed more than 180,000 people, going mainly to
programs at schools, where tens of thousands of children get their only
meal of the day, WFP spokesman Alejandro Chicheri said.
   "Some residents and schools have gone for five weeks without food,"
Chicheri said.
   Doctors say babies have become the first victims.
   "Most of the malnourished children we see have got to the hospital too
late. Many end up dying," said Dr. Anthony Constant, director of the
region's main hospital in the city of 500,000.
   Ten babies died here this month, suffering from malnutrition and
dehydration, Dr. Floride Douyon said. Two more died Thursday, born
prematurely, probably to malnourished mothers, maternity nurses said.
   In comparison, the hospital recorded only two such deaths in the month
before Feb. 22, when rebels seized the city.
   The new U.S.-backed interim government appears in no position to help,
announcing a budget deficit Thursday of at least $75 million.
   "The state is virtually bankrupt," Cabinet Minister Robert Ulysse told
reporters.
   He said officials planned to meet international donors April 14 to ask
them to free millions of dollars of aid frozen when Aristide was in power.
   With local government offices abandoned in much of the country,
humanitarian agencies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross,
the U.N. World Food Program, Oxfam and others are stepping in to provide
emergency relief.
   "Vulnerable people, especially children, cannot wait. They need the food
now," Guy Gauvreau, Haiti director for WFP, said Thursday. "As long as
there is political instability in Haiti, both the number of people in need
of food aid and the amount of funding required to help them will increase."
   ------
   On the Net:
   World Food Program: http://www.wfp.org
   Oxfam: http://www.oxfam.org
   ICRC: http://www.icrc.org