Floods add to Haiti's political and social crises

by Philippe Rater

Monday, May 31, 2004

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): Devastating floods and mudslides that have killed nearly 1,000 people in Haiti in the last week have further complicated the efforts of the transitional government to recover from an armed uprising earlier this year.

In the early hours of May 24, torrential rains hit Haiti, touching off rock- and mudslides that swallowed houses, schools and churches in several communities in the east of the country. The Dominican Republic, which shares Hispaniola Island with Haiti, which was also hit by deadly floods.

Altogether, the deadliest floods in a generation had claimed nearly 1,400 lives, with about two-thirds of those deaths in Haiti.

UN officials fear the death toll will grow as the large number of missing on both sides of the border are found.

Relief efforts and reconstruction will only add to the burden of Haiti's transitional government, which was formed after president Jean Bertrand Aristide fled the country on February 29 amid a deadly uprising against him.

Aristide on Sunday was headed into exile in South Africa, but three months after his departure violent crime and kidnappings still dog the country.

The new prime minister, Gerard Latortue, already has the difficult task of leading the country to general elections next year so that a new president can take office in February.

But for the time being, flood relief has taken priority over politics.

The international community, which already had deployed a multinational force to smooth the political transition and halt the unrest, has flown in aid.

While the aid effort got off to a slow start at the beginning of the week, it accelerated Friday as US and Canadian transport helicopters ferried emergency supplies, as weather improved.

The floods had cut off roads to the area, leaving helicopters as the only way to deliver medical supplies, water and food.

In Washington, US Secretary of State Colin Powell promised help to cope with the devastation.

"We are deeply concerned about the destruction and loss of life that has taken place in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti as a result of recent rains which have produced mudslides, and we are in touch with both governments," Powell said.

"Fortunately, we had some military forces -- as did Canada and France, Chile and other nations -- in Haiti that were providing peacekeeping activities (and) can now also be used for humanitarian rescue operations," Powell added.

On Tuesday, the current force is scheduled to hand over its responsibilities to a UN force made up largely of soldiers from Latin American countries and led by a Brazilian general.

Their task will be to assist Haitian police in reorganizing themselves and maintaining security in the country.

With the region's rainy season due to begin on June 1 and last until November, reconstruction efforts may be frustrated.

"A natural catastrophe added to the misery suffered by local people," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Friday, after touring the disaster area by helicopter. "This is a lot, this is too much for countries like that."

He stressed the need for active solidarity and cooperation between Haiti and the Dominican Republic and France and the European Union.

The Haitian village of Fonds-Verrettes, which had about 45,000 residents, was practically wiped away.

"It will be necessary to rebuild it elsewhere," Latortue said this week.

Farther south, the Mapou Belle Anse region was equally devastated. Human bodies continue to float in pools of water created by the rains, according to witnesses.

The community "was almost was completely destroyed," said Rachid Karoum, a European Union representative in Haiti.

On the Dominican side, the devastation is centered around the town of Jimani located on the other side of the border with Haiti.

Survivors buried their dead there in mass graves to avoid epidemics.

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