23496: (Craig) Chicago Tribune Editorial: Aid for Haiti can't wait (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <sak-pase@bimini.ws>


Aid for Haiti can't wait
October 18, 2004

As if the ravages of Hurricane Jeanne were not enough, Haiti's unresolved political problems are spewing violence throughout the country, mainly in Gonaives, the scene of the greatest hurricane damage, but also in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Bands of supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide are roaming the streets, like vermin fresh out of a sewer, stealing food and decapitating, Iraqi-style, members of what's left of Haiti's police force.

At least 46 people have been killed in the capital, including five who were decapitated. Violence has disrupted distribution of desperately needed food to stricken zones where there are 1,900 people dead, 900 missing and 298,000 homeless.

After Aristide resigned in February, U.S. troops intervened briefly to stanch the fighting between opponents and partisans of Aristide, and to install a caretaker government.

About three months later, the Americans passed the ball to the United Nations, which has since led a contingent of about 3,000 troops headed by a Brazilian general, and a few hundred military police, all trying to maintain order. The UN is coordinating humanitarian aid too.

Hurricane Jeanne swept away whatever order there was, and supporters of Aristide have launched a campaign of terror ominously called "Operation Baghdad."

Greater international intervention is urgently needed to keep suffering and violence from escalating. About 3,000 more UN peacekeepers have been approved by the Security Council, but that may not be enough, and their mandate ends at the end of the year.

The Security Council must extend the mandate of the peacekeepers for at least another year and substantially increase their number, to as many as 12,000. Beyond the obvious deep concern for public safety, elections scheduled for the end of 2005 are at great risk.

Many Latin American countries have contributed military personnel. The U.S. has not, except for its brief intervention following Aristide's departure. Given its military commitments elsewhere, it's unlikely the U.S. will do so, but it should provide logistical and other support for the UN contingent on the ground.

Then there's humanitarian aid, which cannot be distributed without some public order. Again the UN has gathered and distributed aid from a number of countries--but it's not enough to get Haitians past the current crisis.

The U.S. has provided $11.4 million in disaster aid, according to Jose Fuentes, of USAID in Washington, D.C. Two weeks ago, the Bush administration asked Congress for $100 million to aid all the Caribbean islands hit by hurricanes this season, but Haiti's share has not been decided yet. To that you can add $1.2 billion in aid pledged by a number of countries at a summit on Haiti this summer--before the hurricane--and intended to stabilize the country's economy.

An awful lot of money, isn't it? But the mayhem is going on now and most of the funds pledged--except for the $11.4 million already disbursed by the U.S. and immediate aid from a number of charitable organizations--won't begin flowing for several months, if not years. Europeans in particular are known for pledging gobs of money and then spending 20 months on the paperwork before delivering.

The crisis in Haiti will not wait that long. The widening chaos will kill scores more people and sink the prospects for an election next year and the installation of a democratic government in 2006. International aid--the UN has asked for $59 million for humanitarian aid over the next six months--must be expedited.

A small but significant contribution by the U.S. would be to grant Temporary Protected Status to about 20,000 illegal Haitian immigrants in Florida, likely to be deported to a home country on the edge of collapse. Allowing them to stay and work here for 18 months would be a humanitarian gesture. And it would likely provide some financial relief--like immigrants before them, Haitians here are likely to send cash and goods to their stricken relatives back home.


Copyright (c) 2004, Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0410180216oct18,1,4525252.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed