21325: Esser: 51 Haitians flee to Jamaica (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

The Jamaica Observer
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com

April 12, 2004

Fifty-one more Haitians arrive

Fifty-one more Haitian refugees arrived in Jamaica yesterday,
maintaining the flow of boat people to the island nearly six weeks
after the overthrow of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the
winding down of violence with the installation of an interim
government headed by Gerard Latortue.

Yesterday's arrivals in Port Antonio, in two rickety sailboats,
brought to 361 the number of Haitians who have made the 100-mile sea
journey since mid-February when the first boat load arrived.
Of the total number of Haitian refugees to have reached Jamaica, 111
have come since the start of this month.

According to Jamaican officials, of yesterday's group, the first set
- 25 men, two women and two boys - landed just before 1:00 am at
Folly in Port Antonio.
The next set of 14 men, two men and six boys came ashore at the Ken
Wright Pier at Port Antonio's west harbour - their small boat laden
with pots, pans, water jugs and clothing.

Haitian refugees began to arrive in Jamaica at the height of civil
unrest and an armed uprising by anti-Aristide rebels who crossed into
Haiti from the Dominican Republic. Aristide left Haiti on February 29
and was taken to the Central African Republic, but has insisted that
he was the subject of a political kidnapping carried out by the
United States. The US has denied the charge.

The overthrown Haitian leader has been in temporary asylum in Jamaica
since mid-March, waiting to head to South Africa after the country's
general election, which takes place this week.
The arrival of the Haitian refugees has put pressure on Jamaica's
resources and officials here had hoped that the flow would subside
with the return of a semblance of normality to Haiti.

But if anything, the pace has picked up recently. Last week, for
instance, 32 landed in Portland.
"We are hoping that no more of them arrive, or if they do, we are
hoping that it is in a trickle," land and environment minister, Dean
Peart, told the Observer last week.
Peart has responsibility for disaster and humanitarian relief in the
Jamaican Government and has been overseeing the Haitian relief effort.

Yesterday's arrivals were taken to the Port Antonio health centre -
they were determined to be in basic good health - before they were
transferred to the Winifred Rest Home at Fairy Hill where 299 are
temporarily housed.
Another 62 are at Montpelier in St James, where the government has
been upgrading a former army barracks, at a cost of $65 million, to
house the refugees.

"We just wanted to leave," one of the newest arrivals said, through
an interpreter, yesterday.
"Anywhere we land would be good, as long as we are safe."
.