23350: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Delayed Aid (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By AMY BRACKEN

   GONAIVES, Sept 30 (AP) -- While desperately hungry flood victims wander
the streets of Gonaives searching for help, tons of food aid is piling up
in a warehouse guarded by U.N. peacekeepers.
   The repeated looting of relief trucks has made it difficult to get sacks
of wheat, lentils and other foodstuffs stacked in the warehouse out to
those who need it most, aid workers say.
   "The problem is not a lack of food. It's security and a lack of trucks,"
Ricardo Mena, an official of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, said Thursday.
   About 1,500 tons of food aid remains in a warehouse run by the aid group
CARE International and guarded by U.N. troops, CARE spokesman Rick Perera
said.
   But some residents are growing impatient with humanitarian groups, which
are stretched thin as they try to cope with the aftermath of Tropical Storm
Jeanne, which left more than 1,500 dead and some 900 missing, many of whom
are presumed dead.
   About 200,000 of Gonaive's 250,000 residents are homeless.
   U.N. troops have fired shots in the air and smoke grenades to try to
keep order while aid workers hand out food. Troops have dragged looters off
trucks, some of them shouting back, "We're hungry!" Haiti's powerless
police force says gangs are breaking into people's homes at night to steal
food.
   The United Nations has 750 peacekeepers in Gonaives and the entire force
in Haiti only numbers 3,000 -- well below the 8,000 promised when it took
over from U.S. Marines in June.
   Aid workers said the situation in Gonaives remains tense, with angry
residents still facing off with troops.
   "The aid workers aren't doing enough to help. They're not even coming to
the communities where there are problems with gangs," said Rony Coq, 30,
himself a member of the Bottle Army gang that operates in Cassolet.
   Cassolet is a slum still feet-deep in feces-contaminated mud spewed
after a 30-hour pounding by Tropical Storm Jeanne shattered the sewer
system nearly two weeks ago.
   The problems are compounded by damaged and flooded roads which slow the
aid trucks that do get out.
   "There is not a lack of food in Gonaives," said Guy Gavreau, the U.N.
agency's director in Haiti. He said the security problem was being solved
and very soon "most of the people in Gonaives will have food."
   Relief workers now have four food distribution centers in Gonaives,
giving out some 80 tons a day, Mena said.
   Perera said CARE has distributed more than 466 tons of food aid to more
than 100,000 people, and has stepped up the pace since the United Nations
sent reinforcements over the weekend.
   Aid groups also are working to provide 40,000 gallons of water a day at
kiosks throughout the city, Perera said.
   "We had seven trucks (of aid) come in today. You can't just throw it out
in the streets. You've got to have proper security and logistics in place,"
Perera said. "Security is constantly improving and as a result we are able
to distribute more and more each day."
   Aid workers also are fanning out into smaller northwestern towns with
doctors and relief supplies, though the main city there, Port-de-Paix, with
a population of about 45,000, can be reached only by air because of
flood-damaged roads, Perera said.
   Residents worry that acute long-term needs for food, water and medical
help will not be met.
   "The foreigners are here now, but soon they'll be gone and then what do
we do?" worried Maxilia Talma, a 43-year-old resident of Gonaives.
   The storm ravaged an estimated 24,700 acres of the most fertile land in
Haiti, with mud covering the area that produces up to 40 percent of the
bananas, beans and sweet potatoes consumed in the country, agronomist
Jean-Andre Victor told The Associated Press this week.
   "If Haitian-international cooperation is slow to respond (to farmers'
needs), there is risk of famine in those regions," Victor warned.
   Perera said CARE is rushing to provide seeds and tools to thousands of
rural farmers before the planting season in October and November. But
farmers in one community reachable only on foot said they could not plant
until people helped them bury corpses clogging irrigation canals.
   Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew visited Thursday and
said he was encouraged by "major progress" in the transportation of aid.
   The United Nations on Thursday launched an appeal for $30 million in
emergency aid for Haiti.
   This week, President Bush asked Congress for $50 million for storm-hit
Caribbean countries, with about half for Haiti. On Wednesday, the U.S.
Embassy announced an emergency grant of $500,000 for health care, saying it
was part of nearly $2 million in U.S. aid given since the storm.
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   On the Net:
   Aid agencies operating in Haiti, http://www.interaction.org