Senior UN human rights official deplores violence in Haiti by United Nations 3:00pm 9th Feb, 2004   Haiti's civil crisis preventing vital food aid deliveries, UN agency reports.    11 February 2004 – The United Nations food relief agency today expressed its growing concern over the recent outbreak of civil strife in Haiti, warning that the closure of key roads is blocking the delivery of food aid to almost 270,000 needy people.    The World Food Programme (WFP) said it has the food supplies ready to be delivered to Haiti's north and northwest, where stocks are dropping in many cities and towns. But WFP also faces a shortfall of $3.1 million to run its operations this year in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas.    The main route used by the WFP to deliver food to the north has been blocked since last Thursday, when violent clashes erupted between police and armed groups in the strategic city of Gonaives.    The agency was scheduled to transport 1.4 tons of cereals to its warehouses in Cap-Haitien and Bombardopolis, both in the north of the country, to help some 268,000 people, including school children, pregnant and lactating mothers, HIV/AIDS orphans and others affected by drought or floods there.    As the agency explores bringing aid to the north by boat, WFP's Country Director in Haiti, Guy Gauvreau, warned that the consequences of late deliveries could be grave. "More than half the food required this month is ready for transport," he said. "If we are not able to move it in the coming week, food distributions will be disrupted and malnutrition will rise, especially among vulnerable children."    10 February 2004 – The acting United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights today expressed concern about fatal clashes between pro- and anti-government militias in Haiti and called on all sides to resolve the political crisis peacefully.    In a statement released in Geneva, Bertrand Ramcharan deplored the killings and destruction over the past week in the Haitian cities of Gonaives and St. Marc and condemned the use of violence on all sides.    He urged the Haitian authorities to bring those responsible for serious acts of violence and human rights violations to justice.    Gonaives was the launching pad for Haiti's declaration of independence from the French in 1804, as well as a subsequent number of coups d'etat.    UN spokesperson Jose Luis Diaz said the world body's human rights office wanted to put a representative in Haiti to work with members of other international organizations.    Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said an inter-agency mission, including representatives of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Food Programme (WFP), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), UN Security Coordinator (UNSECOORD) and OCHA, arrived in Port au Prince on Sunday.    The mission is assessing the humanitarian situation, updating the contingency plan in a deteriorating situation, and coordinating UN activities.    Fifty per cent of Haiti's 8 million people are jobless and 47 per cent live on less than $1 a day, OCHA said. The food crisis is likely to worsen and only 45 per cent of the population has access to safe drinking water. Hunger has been compounded by alarming environmental degradation, since Haiti is nearly 90 per cent deforested.    Recent floods unleashed by Tropical Storm Odette last December left nearly 25,000 people without food in the northern part of the country, according to OCHA.    February 9, 2004    "Anarchy takes hold in Haiti" by Michael Norton in St Marc. ( Published by The Guardian / UK)    Hundreds of people looted shipping containers yesterday, carrying away televisions and sacks of flour, a day after armed opponents of the government drove police out of St Marc, a town in the west of Haiti, in a widening uprising against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.    On Saturday police withdrew from the larger city of Gonaives in the north-west after failing to defeat rebels in street battles which left at least nine dead, witnesses said.    At least two people were killed in St Marc on Saturday as gunmen seized the police station and set it on fire along with the courthouse next door, residents said. One wounded man seen by journalists yesterday said he was shot in the chest by a police officer in civilian clothes.    Residents blocked streets in St Marc with burning tyres, felled trees and barbed wire. "After Aristide leaves, the country will return to normal," said Axel Philippe, 34, among the dozens of people gathered on the highway leading to the town, located south of Gonaives. Hundreds of looters meanwhile, carried away spoils including mattresses and iron beams from shipping containers that they prised open at the town's port.    Members of an opposition group known as Ramicos said they seized control with the help of other opponents of Mr Aristide in St Marc, which has a population of more than 100,000 and is located 45 miles north-west of Port-au-Prince, the capital.    In Gonaives, Haiti's fourth-largest city, witnesses said police pulled out following gunbattles with rebels of the Gonaives Resistance Front who seized control on Thursday. The group was once allied to Mr Aristide.    It was unclear when police planned to return, but the government has vowed to retake control following the attacks which it branded as terrorism. At least seven police officers and two militants were reported killed on Saturday in Gonaives..    6th February 2004    Expressing concern about rising bloodshed in Haiti, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on Haitians to resolve their differences peacefully and through constitutional means.    In a statement released by his spokesman, Mr. Annan termed yesterday’s events in the city of Gonaives – Haiti’s fourth largest town – “a further escalation in the violence that is affecting the country.”    Lying northwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince, Gonaives is where the country's independence was proclaimed on 1 January 1804. Clashes between government forces and armed opposition members there yesterday led to a number of deaths.    Mr. Annan emphasized his full support for the efforts of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in trying to work through the political impasse, as well as the continuing work of the Organization of American States (OAS) Special Mission in Haiti.    The United Nations fielded a series of missions to Haiti, largely during the 1990s, in a bid to support the professionalization of the Haitian National Police force, consolidate Haiti's system of justice and other national institutions, and promote human rights.    UN human rights experts appeal for end to political violence in Haiti    22 January 2004 – Two United Nations experts on human rights have expressed concern about the deterioration in human rights observance in Haiti since the start of recent violent confrontations between law enforcement officials, government supporters and government opponents.    The Special Rapporteur on the freedom of opinion and expression, Ambeyi Ligabo, and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Asma Jahangir, both of the Commission on Human Rights, "deplored the fact that political violence continued to regularly cause victims."    Two people were killed and about 30 were injured on 7 January in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and 25 people were injured on the campus of the University of Haiti last month in such confrontations, they said in a joint statement.    The experts noted that numerous attacks against political activists, journalists and radio stations also have taken place in the last few months.    The Special Rapporteurs appealed to the Haitian authorities - in cooperation with opposition political parties - to demand that the violence stop and bring to justice anyone found responsible.
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