Haiti reels from hurricanes; U.N. occupiers fear rebellion

Hurricane Ike brushed by Haiti Sept. 7, dumping major rainfall that forced the residents of Gonaïves to flee to higher ground or climb up on their roofs once again. Hurricane Hanna a week earlier had also flooded the city, the fourth largest in Haiti.

In late August, Hurricane Gustav left 77 people dead in Haiti. Hurricanes Hanna and Ike left over 500 dead and all land routes to Gonaïves cut, according to the U.N.’s Humanitarian Affairs Commission.

Alta Jean-Baptiste, head of Haiti’s Civil Protection Office, told Agence France Presse on Sept. 5 that large portions of the city remained under floodwaters, and up to 70 percent of its 300,000 residents have been without water or food since Sept. 1.

Children in a Gonaïves orphanage were so hungry that U.N. troops, mainly from Argentina, reportedly gave them their own rations. According to the Associated Press, children followed U.N. trucks, crying out, “I’m hungry! I’m hungry!”

Another, unnamed official told AFP that convoys attempting to take food to the affected areas have been “attacked by famished people.” There is no power across most of northern Haiti, largely cut off from the rest of the country by landslides and flooding.

The video clips on YouTube from Gonaïves show people swimming and wading through waist- or neck-high water, while U.N. troops with body armor and helmets watch. A number of foreign aid workers and reporters have made it clear that “social unrest” by people who are desperately famished was considered extremely likely.

Last April, revolts over the high price of food led to the collapse of the government. A new government with its cabinet ministers was only formed on Sept. 5, the same day the U.N. was finally able to repair a wharf in Gonaïves and get a relief ship in with some supplies.

It’s not as if the U.N. didn’t know the dangers that Gonaïves faced, since it lies on a flat plain between the Gonâve Gulf and deforested mountains. In 2004, after Hurricane Jeanne devastated Gonaïves and left over 3,000 people dead and its economy destroyed, the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs commissioned a report on “Floods in Haiti.” The report recommended, “To prevent or reduce future effects of storms and floods the general environmental conditions on forestation, sanitation and (water) infrastructure are the main factors to improve.”

A U.N. report on environmental degradation or any other social problem generally doesn’t carry much weight. But ever since June 2004, when the U.N.’s Minustah (United Nations Stabilization Mission In Haiti) took over from the U.S., French and Canadian troops then occupying Haiti, the U.N. has been the occupying power and responsible for conditions, including keeping a lid on social protests.

The U.S. financed, politically supported and helped organize the Feb. 29, 2004, coup against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who had been democratically elected by the Haitian people. Aristide and his party Fanmi Lavalas wanted justice and real economic development, which would have uncovered the rapacious murders and repressive thievery that the U.S. utilized to control Haiti for its own purposes.

So Aristide was removed and the U.N. brought in to carry out the U.S. mission. The U.S. had more demanding tasks at hand that required great resources, like the invasion, occupation and ongoing war in Iraq. Since that time, with U.S. interests no longer threatened in Haiti, the desperate situation there has received little attention in the major U.S. media.