21561: Esser: Jamaica asks UN for help with Haitian refugees (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Jamaica Observer
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com

April 27, 2004

Jamaica asks UN for help with refugees
130 more Haitians arrive; Nearly 500 now here
Observer Reporter

Jamaica yesterday appealed for assistance from the United Nations
High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) after 130 more Haitian boat
people arrived in the island, putting additional pressure on the
island to deal with the Haitian refugee problem.

The latest arrivals pushed to 491 the number of Haitians to have made
the perilous 100-mile journey in small overcrowded boats from their
homeland to Jamaica since the influx began in February, at the height
of the unrest that culminated with the overthrow of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The overthrown president is currently on
temporary asylum in Jamaica ahead of going to South Africa.

"We expect financial support from the UNHCR by the end of the week,"
said foreign minister K D Knight.

Jamaica had warned that it would need international help to cope with
the problem if the arrivals continued, but officials had hoped that
the flow of refugees would have subsided with the relative calm in
the country that followed the installation of the interim government
of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.

But two separate batches arrived in Manchioneal, Portland and at Quaw
in St Thomas between Sunday night and early Monday, forcing the
Jamaican authorities to launch its appeal.

At Manchioneal, the group of 96 came ashore at about 6:30 am
yesterday in three sail boats, saying that they had left Haiti on
Saturday.

This group was comprised of 82 males and 12 females as well as a
baby, who was among a dozen children.

They were first taken to the Manchioneal police station and later
transferred to the Fair Prospect health centre for medical checks and
further processing.

Later, the other group was discovered just across the parish border
in St Thomas at Quaw Hill beach. They told the police they had come
ashore Sunday night and had slept on the beach until morning.

The Quaw Hill group included 23 adults - 18 males and five females -
and 11 children.

Both groups were transported to the Winnifred Home in Portland where
200 Haitian refugees are already being housed.

"From my perspective, I believe we are overcrowded at the Winnifred
Home right now," one public health inspector at the home told the
Observer.

The government has repaired a former army barracks at Montpelier in
St James, in western Jamaica, to help house the refugees. Jamaica has
said that it was obligated to care for the Haitians under UN
humanitarian regimes.

"We don't have a choice, we just have to deal with them one way or
the other," said Dr Barbara Carby, the head of the Office of Disaster

Preparedness and Relief Management (ODPEM). Knight said that a
committee comprising representatives of his ministry, the attorney
general's office and the national security ministry was currently
interviewing the refugees to determine which of them were seeking
asylum.

"We also understand that some of them have made a request to go
back," said Knight.
.