The President of Chile was scheduled to arrive in Haiti on Monday, March 27th
The President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet was expected in Haiti on Monday, March 27th.
This official visit will be the first one by a head of state with President Jovenel Moïse and it will take place within the framework of an 80-year relationship between both countries.
During her visit, the Chilean President also intended to confirm the departure of Chilean troops that are part of the MINUSTAH (UN peacekeeping mission). Yet she also planned to reaffirm Chile’s commitment to work for social and economic development in Haiti, thanks to its contributions in various domains.
On the itinerary, President Bachelet was scheduled to meet with Chilean troops based in Cap-Haitian and in Port-au-Prince, as well as tour the National School of the Republic of Chile, which was completely rebuilt after the earthquake of January 12th, 2010, thanks to Chilean cooperation.
Mrs Bachelet was also to meet with Sandra Honoré, Special Representative of the United Nations General Secretary and Head of the MINUSTAH, in the context of coordinating the withdrawal of Chilean troops planned for April 15th.
Before leaving, President Michelle Bachelet was also to sign a bilateral agreement related to education.
THE ‘SIMAN LAKAY’ PROJECT RESURFACES
It has been a long time since anyone has heard about this project, which consists of the construction of a cement factory in the City of Gonaïves.
The cement plant "Siman Lakay" with a capacity of close to 2 million tons of cement a year, will be built by Belgian firms TSE and TPF Engineering. They will invest U.S. $300 million and will fill a big portion of Haiti’s cement need, estimated at 4.5 million tons annually. This factory should create more than 2,200 jobs on the main production site (workers, staff, and various executives with different expertise). They will benefit from continuous training.
After a long silence, Artibonite Senator Carl Murat Cantave restored hope to residents of Gonaïves by sharing that he recently attended meeting at the National Palace where a representative of the Belgian firm (TSE) was present. He stated that the Belgian company would present a calendar of execution for this vast project in a few days.
TWO BANDITS ON THE RUN WERE ARRESTED IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Last Saturday, following a request by the Head office of the Criminal Investigation Department (DCPJ), and within the framework of a special mission, the Dominican police, accompanied with agents from the Haitian National Police force (PNH), led an operation during which two Haitian nationals were arrested. The two are suspected of kidnappings in Haiti, and have been wanted for some time.
During this operation, Edner Comé, a former police officer also known as Jackson Travelino, the second in command of the gang managed by Clifford H. Brandt, was arrested, after several years on the run. He had taken refuge in the Dominican Republic, very probably after Clifford Brandt's arrest, and had been wanted since 2012.
A second individual was also arrested. He is believed to be Gérald François, a member of the Gang Galil, which has been implicated in at least 17 kidnappings.
These two criminals should be transferred to Haiti soon, in order to appear before the courts of their country.
Author Celebration
Caribbean Studies Association 42th Annual Conference,
Nassau, Bahamas, June 5-10, 2017
Members of the Caribbean Studies Association (CSA) who have published books during 2016 and 2017, and who will attend the 2017 conference, are invited to participate in the Author Celebrations. A highlight of the annual conference, the Author Celebrations are a series of short events held throughout the week of the conference that will not only celebrate our colleagues’ publishing achievements, but ensure maximum publicity for individual authors. The sessions will comprise of brief introductions of each book followed by open discussions with the authors.
Do make note of the following guidelines:
- Authors must be present at the conference, and books must be presented by a colleague; authors cannot introduce their own books.
- Presenters will be allotted 3 minutes to introduce each book.
- Authors are encouraged to bring copies of their books for display or sale during their respective sessions. We also ask authors to bring one copy of their book for the CSA Executive Board to donate to a local library at the end of the conference.
To submit a work for inclusion in the sessions, please send us your name, affiliation, book title, a scanned image of the front cover of your book, the publisher and publication date, and the name and contact information of the colleague who has agreed to introduce your book.
The information provided by the authors will be printed in the conference program once we have confirmed with the author and presenter. [Any changes to the information should be communicated as soon as possible. Authors who cannot be present at the conference should inform us so that we can remove their names from the program. In addition, if the chosen presenter is unable to attend, please choose another presenter and inform us in time to change the program.]
Submissions must include the following and be submitted via the CSA website by April 21, 2017:
https://www.eventsforce.net/csa/frontend/reg/tAbsSubmitterLogin.csp?pageID=4931&eventID=6&eventID=6
Kamille Gentles-Peart, Roger Williams University
Karen Flynn, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Sheri Lewis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
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UNITED NATIONS |
NATIONS UNIES |
Ref: PIO/CG-PR 04/2017
PRESS RELEASE
The “Core Group: welcomes the assumption of office of the new Government
Port-au-Prince, 22 March 2017- The Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the other members of the “Core Group” (the Ambassadors of Brazil, Canada, France, Spain, United States of America, the European Union and the Special Representative of the Organization of American States) welcome the confirmation by Parliament of the government programme and Cabinet of Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant and the assumption of office of the new Government.
In congratulating the Prime Minister and Government, the “Core Group” looks forward to working closely with them and with all elected officials as they address the most pressing challenges facing the country. The “Core Group” reiterates its full support to the consolidation of stability, democracy, including the rule of law and development in Haiti.
MORE THAN A HUNDRED HAITIANS HAVE TAKEN REFUGE IN A CAVE SINCE HURRICANE MATTHEW
The organization "Food For The Poor Haiti" informed that since the passage of the Hurricane Matthew, more than a hundred Haitians (men, women and children) have survive in a cave situated in Fond Rouge. These victims of Matthew lost everything and are left to their own devices, in what they call "the hole"
Jean Berlin Depeine who has assumed the role of ‘leader’ for these stricken families, explained with a lot of sadness that they do not know what to do anymore to survive. Living for the most part of agriculture, the hurricane destroyed all of their harvests, flooded their gardens and destroyed their houses.
He explained that families have been able to eat for 6 months, thanks foods donations made by two ministers, because they do not have any other assistance, nor do they have a way to get out of this terrible situation, in which the Government seems to have abandoned them...
Grand’Anse is within an inch of an alert famine …
Le Nouveliste - Some people say that it is already a reality in the mountainous regions of Grand’Anse. For this department, which made up at least 25 % of agricultural production of Haiti before the hurricane Matthew, the famine alert could be launched at any time.
Silence is not option for this community. More than five months after this disaster, "We are not far from an alert because of famine in Grand’Anse," said Monode Joseph, the president of the Chamber of commerce and industry of Grand’Anse. People are hungry. Plots of land blocked by tree trunks are not cultivated. In cities, like Jérémie for example, we observe an increase in population.
The exodus of victims in the rural sections has intensified, explained Joseph. He believes that an intervention is needed to allow the inhabitants of department to survive. "In conjunction with the emergency food aid, efforts are needed to clear fields, distribute seeds of pea, corn, tomato, of kalalou. Plowing tools are needed, as are farming tractors.” In the next four months we want to reduce the dependence of the victims, explained Joseph Monod.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church in the department is not less worried. "There is a very big food precariousness in Grand”Anze," announced the bishop of Jérémie, Joseph Gontrand Décoste.
After Bringing Cholera to Haiti, U.N. Can’t Raise Money to Fight It
By RICK GLADSTONEMARCH 19, 2017
A clinic in Rendel, Haiti, was overflowing with cholera patients in October. The disease has killed nearly 10,000 people in Haiti since it was introduced there in 2010 by a United Nations peacekeeping force.
When the leader of the United Nations apologized to Haitians for the cholera epidemic that has ravaged their country for more than six years — caused by infected peacekeepers sent to protect them — he proclaimed a “moral responsibility” to make things right.
The apology, announced in December along with a $400 million strategy to combat the epidemic and “provide material assistance and support” for victims, amounted to a rare public act of contrition by the United Nations. Under its secretary general at the time, Ban Ki-moon, the organization had resisted any acceptance of blame for the epidemic, one of the worst cholera outbreaks in modern times.
Since then, however, the United Nations’ strategy to fight the epidemic, which it calls the “New Approach,” has failed to gain traction. A trust fund created to help finance the strategy has only about $2 million, according to the latest data on its website. Just six of the 193 member states — Britain, Chile, France, India, Liechtenstein and South Korea — have donated.
Other countries have provided additional sources of anti-cholera funding for Haiti outside the trust fund, most notably Canada, at about $4.6 million, and Japan, at $2.6 million, according to the United Nations. Nonetheless, the totals received are a fraction of what Mr. Ban envisioned.
In a letter sent to member states last month, Mr. Ban’s successor, António Guterres, asked for financial commitments to the trust fund by March 6. He also appeared to raise the possibility of a mandatory dues assessment if there were no significant pledges.
The deadline came and went without much response.
Mr. Guterres has not stated publicly whether he intends to push for a mandatory assessment in the budget negotiations now underway at the United Nations. Privately, however, diplomats and United Nations officials said he had shelved the idea, partly because of strong resistance by some powerful members, including the United States.
Diplomats said part of the problem could be traced to simple donor fatigue, as well as to many countries’ reluctance to make financial commitments without certainty that the money will be used effectively.
The donor challenge was acknowledged by Dr. David Nabarro, a United Nations special adviser who rose to prominence running its mobilization to fight the Ebola crisis in West Africa, and who has been leading its fund-raising efforts for Haiti as he seeks to become the next director general of the World Health Organization.
“Donors will respond, but they need to be convinced that they’re going to be given a good proposition for what’s done with their money,” he said in January at the World Economic Forum. “The Haiti cholera story is not actually a very good one, in that it’s taken us a rather long time to get on top of it, and still the problem is persisting.”
The fund-raising effort has been further complicated by the Trump administration’s intention to cut spending on foreign aid. The United States, historically a leading source of Haiti’s foreign aid, is also the biggest single financing source for the United Nations, which may now confront painful choices over how to allocate reduced revenue.
Ross Mountain, a veteran United Nations aid official who is its senior adviser on cholera in Haiti, said that a number of ideas concerning the financing were under discussion. And, he said, while “$400 million is not a very large sum, considering the circumstances, we are all very aware about the competing demands.”
Mr. Mountain also conceded that “on the financial side, we have not moved further ahead.”
Mr. Trump’s new United Nations ambassador, Nikki R. Haley, who has called the cholera crisis “nothing short of devastating,” did not respond to requests for comment about the funding problem. But in her Senate confirmation testimony in January, Ms. Haley said, “We’re going to have to make this right with Haiti, without question, and the U.N. is going to have to take responsibility.”
Cholera, a waterborne bacterial scourge that can cause acute diarrhea and fatal dehydration if not treated quickly, has killed nearly 10,000 people and sickened nearly 800,000 in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country, since it was introduced there in 2010 by infected Nepalese members of a United Nations peacekeeping force. This year, as of late February, nearly 2,000 new cases had been reported, amounting to hundreds a week.
Studies have traced the highly contagious disease to sloppy sanitation that had leached fecal waste laced with cholera germs from latrines used by the Nepalese peacekeepers into the water supply.
“We still have the biggest outbreak of cholera of any country anywhere,” said Dr. Louise Ivers, a senior policy adviser at Partners in Health, an international medical aid organization that has long worked in Haiti. “Here we are, nearly seven years later, and it’s still a big problem.”
Compared with other disasters confronting the United Nations, like the Syria refugee crisis and famines threatening 20 million people in Yemen and parts of Africa, the Haiti crisis may not loom as large. But unlike the others, the direct cause in Haiti was traced to the United Nations.
This fact weighed on Mr. Ban until near the end of his tenure. He finally acted after the organization’s independent investigator on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, said in a scathing report that the United Nations’ failure to take responsibility for the cholera crisis was “morally unconscionable, legally indefensible and politically self-defeating.”
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But Mr. Ban’s apology for Haiti’s cholera epidemic also clearly reflected an assumption that all members were responsible for the success of the new strategy to defeat it. “For the sake of the Haitian people, but also for the sake of the United Nations itself, we have a moral responsibility to act,” he told the General Assembly on Dec. 1. “And we have a collective responsibility to deliver.”
Advocacy groups that had been somewhat heartened by Mr. Ban’s words have grown increasingly anxious not only about the lack of money, but also about the lack of clarity in how the “material assistance and support” part of the plan, which represents half of the $400 million goal, will be used.
Two leading advocacy groups for Haitian cholera victims, the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, sent a letter on Thursday to Mr. Guterres, requesting a meeting and expressing concern that “the current trajectory of fund-raising and elaboration of the New Approach is betraying the U.N.’s promises of a meaningful and accountable response in Haiti.”
Lawmakers in the United States critical of the United Nations’ response in Haiti have also put pressure on the organization.
“While the U.N. has admitted to wrongdoing and promised to create a fund to provide restitution to the people of Haiti victimized by cholera,” Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, said in a statement last week, “they have failed to make good on these promises.”