Country on verge of abyss, UN warns

UNITED NATIONS (CMC):

The United Nations warns that Haiti is “on the verge of abyss” as conflicts rage and international dialogue remains “the only hope” for peace” in the French-speaking CARICOM country.

“It’s hard to overstate the extent to which the security situation in Haiti has collapsed in 2022,” said the UN in its review of 2022, noting that “practically nowhere in the capital, Port-au-Prince, could be deemed safe as rival gangs fought over territory, terrorising increasingly desperate citizens already struggling to survive a humanitarian catastrophe”.

The UN noted that in October, the UN Special Representative, Helen La Lime, welcomed the sanctions regime adopted by the UN Security Council, which targets gang leaders and their backers.

She told the Security Council that even if a political solution could be found, it would not be sufficient to address the crisis.

The UN said La Lime indicated her support for the mobilisation of a specialised military force while the US Permanent Representative to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told the Security Council in October that the US and Mexico were working on a resolution that would authorise a “non-UN international security assistance mission”, which would help in the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid.

With armed gangs in charge of key transport routes in Haiti, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Haiti, Jean-Martin Bauer, warned that the country could see famine conditions unless a robust humanitarian aid plan is put in place,

Bauer believes that Haiti is facing an unprecedented crisis, which could get even worse. For this reason, he said last month that there was no time to waste.

“It’s difficult to believe that a mere two hours flight from Miami, a staggering 4.7 million people – half of Haiti’s population – are in the throes of a food crisis. In the Cité Soleil neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince, 19,000 people are suffering at the ‘catastrophe-level on the global scale for measuring food insecurity.

“In the 1990s, there was a series of coups and a trade embargo; people risked their lives to leave on boats,” he added. “Free market policies ruined Haiti’s smallholder farmers and left the country heavily reliant on food imports.”

Bauer said a succession of disasters followed, including the 2010 earthquake and cholera outbreak, Hurricane Matthew in 2016, and the Southern earthquake of 2021.

“Things are now at a breaking point. This crisis will not pass – it needs renewed and robust humanitarian assistance.”

The UN said that in September, protests and widespread looting erupted and that roadblocks brought the country to a standstill – what Haitians call a “peyi lok” (lockdown).

Armed groups had seized the main fuel import terminal, blocking flows of diesel, the economy’s lifeblood, the UN said.

It said humanitarians also came under attack. two of WFP’s warehouses were looted, depriving thousands of essential food assistance.

For WFP staff, making it to the office meant navigating roadblocks and weathering threats, the UN said, adding, “sadly, the people of Haiti have become conditioned to violence and hunger”.

Against this backdrop, the UN said WFP and its partners provided food to over one million Haitians last year – including over 100,000 people since the lockdown.

“But while emergency rations and airlifts will keep people alive, they won’t offer a future,” the UN warned, noting that while armed groups are no longer in control of the Varrreux fuel Terminal, they still hold swathes of the city.

“Their stranglehold on Haitian society must stop,” Bauer said. “The UN sanctions that were placed on those who support them are a step in the right direction, but humanitarian work in Haiti needs a change of tack.

“What Haiti is experiencing now is not merely a bout of instability that will subside as part of some regular cycle the world is inured to,” he added. “Haiti is experiencing a crisis on an unprecedented scale that can only worsen – unless we act fast and with greater urgency from us all.”