UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, October 12, 1994
5B
Haiti aid disrupted by looters
Haiti aid disrup Relief organizations afraid to resume work
The Associated Press
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — In the long run, the transition to democracy in Haiti will funnel hundreds of millions of dollars of international aid into the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.
In the short run, hungry people are going hungrier.
Relief organizations have been making elaborate plans in the past few weeks for one of the greatest infusions of assistance ever seen in a developing country. The United Nations alone plans to spend $550 million throughout the next 12 to 15 months.
At the same time, looters have pilaged as many as 1,000 food centers run by relief organizations throughout the country, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without the daily food handouts they need.
Although the looting appears to have stopped, aid organizations have been hesitant to resume shipments of food, according to officials at several of the relief groups. As a result, entire regions of Haiti are largely without desperately needed food.
"We used to cook for many people
who really needed the food," said Raymonde Pun, whose organization, Food for the Poor, is among the smaller aid organizations disrupted by the political unrest here. "I know that for some of them, that was their only meal."
The disruption comes at a difficult time for Haitians. After three years of an international embargo, the country's economy is at a near standstill. Foreign imports are scarce, and even if food were available, many people couldn't afford it.
UNICEF estimates that 500 children die in Haiti each week because of poor nutrition.
There is no indication that the looting is directly tied to any political movement. Rather, aid officials said, it appears to be the work of opportunistic gangs of young men who sell the looted food on the black market.
Humanitarian relief organizations are busy drawing up plans for the long-term transition they expect to begin when exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returns later this week.
Some looting has been reported in the past two weeks, but the full extent of it is only now being reported. Joel Sandefur, logistics officer for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency put the number of looted centers at 1,000.
Deposed leaders go back to Haiti
The government of Robert Malval, Aristide's prime minister, announces it will take over the government ministry offices, and the American soldiers arrive in the afternoon to help.
A Panamanian Foreign Ministry official, Eric Rodriguez, says Washington had asked Panama to grant asylum to Cedras and army chief of staff Philippe Biamby and 12 other Haitian military officers, and the government was considering the request.
Aristide's cabinet ministers fire all employees hired under a civilian figurehead government installed in May by military strongman Raoul Cedras, who resigned Monday.
In Washington, Aristide issues this statement "We have learned that Panama is considering receiving General Cedras. I would be pleased if Panama did so. It would help bring peace to Haiti."
Latest developments in Haiti:
Hundreds of U.S. troops take over the National Palace, sweeping away the last vestiges of Haiti's military-backed administration before President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's planned return this Saturday.
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