.Gates orders extra US support for Haiti
Robert Gates, US defence secretary, said on Wednesday that he was stepping up the US military’s effort in Haiti, adding that he had signed deployment orders that day to send at least one port clearance ship with cranes to get the country’s port functioning again.
As he spoke, the US Geological Survey reported that an aftershock measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale had jolted Haiti on Wednesday, eight days after the island suffered its worst earthquake in 200 years, but there were no immediate reports of damage
“As long as more than 2m people in Haiti are still struggling to get food and water, fuel and medical care it would probably be a mistake for anyone to say they are satisfied with the level of effort,” Mr Gates said, rejecting criticism of the US effort so far.
“It is hard for me to see what more the US could make available or how it could make it available ... With each passing hour more and more American forces and capability have flowed into the area.”
He said that while accessing Port-au-Prince itself “has been a challenge ... the hope is that today [Wednesday] and Thursday that will ease ... You cannot meet the needs of 2m people just using helicopters.”
Mr Gates’s comments came after the United Nations urged international charities on Tuesday to co-ordinate their relief efforts in Haiti to avoid creating further bottlenecks in ferrying vital supplies to the earthquake-stricken country.
Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, said uncoordinated and unsolicited assistance would stretch limited resources, as he appealed to non-governmental agencies “to work with the UN to ensure efforts complement each other and not duplicate them”.
Mr Ban did not name any agencies but there has been widespread criticism of the lack of co-ordination of aid distribution in the week since the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that Haitian officials say killed between 100,000 and 200,000 people.
As US troops ramped up their operation to ferry food and other supplies by helicopter to victims of the disaster, the UN Security Council voted to send an additional 3,500 soldiers and police to reinforce its 9,000-strong peacekeeping force.
Additional police units may come from Italy and other European contributors, said UN officials.
Mr Ban said on Tuesday that the co-ordination of relief supplies through the Port-au-Prince airport and via road from the Dominican Republic had improved and 1m Haitians would have received urgent food supplies by the end of the week.
“Relief operations are gearing up quickly,” Mr Ban told reporters in New York. “We are making rapid progress despite extraordinarily difficult logistics problems.”
Referring to Mr Ban’s caution about unsolicited aid, John Holmes, UN humanitarian co-ordinator, said NGOs were an essential part of the relief operation that was under way. “What we are concerned about … is that we don’t get organisations of a well-meaning kind that send supplies and clog up the system,” he said.
Other officials said concerns were mounting for victims outside the capital. “There are 40 rescue teams in Port-au-Prince. We don’t know how many there are elsewhere,” said one official.
A central motive for the UN reinforcing its peacekeeping force was fear of a breakdown in law and order as desperate Haitians continued to wait for assistance one week after the earthquake
The US military presence – 2,000 additional airborne troops were due to arrive on Tuesday to join 1,000 already on the ground – will focus on securing aid delivery points in advance and then ferrying in supplies.
In a division of labour between the UN and the US, the peacekeepers are responsible for maintaining law and order, while American forces will focus on getting supplies as rapidly as possible to the disaster victims.
Mr Gates has said US soldiers are under orders to defend themselves, as well as Haitians and foreigners who face a threat.
Relief operations by a host of UN agencies and international charities were being co-ordinated by Mr Holmes’s department, the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, with food, medical aid and communications at the top of their list of priorities.
With fuel supplies among the factors hindering aid distribution, the UN’s World Food Programme was planning to move 10,000 gallons of diesel a day from the Dominican Republic. Its International Organisation for Migration was assessing construction of a temporary shelter for 100,000 people left homeless by the earthquake.
As relief workers tried to cope with the disaster, efforts were under way on measures such as restoring the banking system.
The OCHA said local banks were planning to open 30 to 40 distribution points within the week. Many Haitians depend on remittances sent by relatives among large Haitian communities in the US and elsewhere.
FT
I heard today that the US was considering allowing Haitians to come to South Florida, but it was not immigration, they were talking about putting them in camps, or Gitmo or something?
I'm totally against putting anyone in camps, that would be like inviting AQ right in the door. If we allow Haitians to come here, they can come in like anyone else, we'll call them dry foots and invite them in to our community.
As he spoke, the US Geological Survey reported that an aftershock measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale had jolted Haiti on Wednesday, eight days after the island suffered its worst earthquake in 200 years, but there were no immediate reports of damage
“As long as more than 2m people in Haiti are still struggling to get food and water, fuel and medical care it would probably be a mistake for anyone to say they are satisfied with the level of effort,” Mr Gates said, rejecting criticism of the US effort so far.
“It is hard for me to see what more the US could make available or how it could make it available ... With each passing hour more and more American forces and capability have flowed into the area.”
He said that while accessing Port-au-Prince itself “has been a challenge ... the hope is that today [Wednesday] and Thursday that will ease ... You cannot meet the needs of 2m people just using helicopters.”
Mr Gates’s comments came after the United Nations urged international charities on Tuesday to co-ordinate their relief efforts in Haiti to avoid creating further bottlenecks in ferrying vital supplies to the earthquake-stricken country.
Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, said uncoordinated and unsolicited assistance would stretch limited resources, as he appealed to non-governmental agencies “to work with the UN to ensure efforts complement each other and not duplicate them”.
Mr Ban did not name any agencies but there has been widespread criticism of the lack of co-ordination of aid distribution in the week since the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that Haitian officials say killed between 100,000 and 200,000 people.
As US troops ramped up their operation to ferry food and other supplies by helicopter to victims of the disaster, the UN Security Council voted to send an additional 3,500 soldiers and police to reinforce its 9,000-strong peacekeeping force.
Additional police units may come from Italy and other European contributors, said UN officials.
Mr Ban said on Tuesday that the co-ordination of relief supplies through the Port-au-Prince airport and via road from the Dominican Republic had improved and 1m Haitians would have received urgent food supplies by the end of the week.
“Relief operations are gearing up quickly,” Mr Ban told reporters in New York. “We are making rapid progress despite extraordinarily difficult logistics problems.”
Referring to Mr Ban’s caution about unsolicited aid, John Holmes, UN humanitarian co-ordinator, said NGOs were an essential part of the relief operation that was under way. “What we are concerned about … is that we don’t get organisations of a well-meaning kind that send supplies and clog up the system,” he said.
Other officials said concerns were mounting for victims outside the capital. “There are 40 rescue teams in Port-au-Prince. We don’t know how many there are elsewhere,” said one official.
A central motive for the UN reinforcing its peacekeeping force was fear of a breakdown in law and order as desperate Haitians continued to wait for assistance one week after the earthquake
The US military presence – 2,000 additional airborne troops were due to arrive on Tuesday to join 1,000 already on the ground – will focus on securing aid delivery points in advance and then ferrying in supplies.
In a division of labour between the UN and the US, the peacekeepers are responsible for maintaining law and order, while American forces will focus on getting supplies as rapidly as possible to the disaster victims.
Mr Gates has said US soldiers are under orders to defend themselves, as well as Haitians and foreigners who face a threat.
Relief operations by a host of UN agencies and international charities were being co-ordinated by Mr Holmes’s department, the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, with food, medical aid and communications at the top of their list of priorities.
With fuel supplies among the factors hindering aid distribution, the UN’s World Food Programme was planning to move 10,000 gallons of diesel a day from the Dominican Republic. Its International Organisation for Migration was assessing construction of a temporary shelter for 100,000 people left homeless by the earthquake.
As relief workers tried to cope with the disaster, efforts were under way on measures such as restoring the banking system.
The OCHA said local banks were planning to open 30 to 40 distribution points within the week. Many Haitians depend on remittances sent by relatives among large Haitian communities in the US and elsewhere.
FT
I heard today that the US was considering allowing Haitians to come to South Florida, but it was not immigration, they were talking about putting them in camps, or Gitmo or something?
I'm totally against putting anyone in camps, that would be like inviting AQ right in the door. If we allow Haitians to come here, they can come in like anyone else, we'll call them dry foots and invite them in to our community.
posted by madtom at 8:33 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home