Falling off the map

Political and economic stability eludes Haiti, one year after a massive earthquake devastated its infrastructure and left several thousands dead.

HAITIANS observed the first anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation in January 2010 without any signs of the return of economic or political stability. More than 250,000 people perished in the worst earthquake to strike Haiti in 200 years. The country's infrastructure, including water supply and drainage systems, was almost totally destroyed. Even as Haiti struggled to recover from the humanitarian disaster, a cholera epidemic of massive proportions broke out in the latter half of 2010.

The 1.3 million people displaced from their homes in the capital city, Port-au-Prince, continue to live in rudimentary camps in unsanitary conditions. The majority of them remain food insecure and are dependent on charity from relatives. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says 380,000 children are living in displacement camps and that the recovery process is just beginning for the beleaguered people. Most of the promised international aid for reconstruction has failed to materialise.

Complicating matters further, the country's political class has been bickering endlessly. The absence of a fully functioning government has been used as an excuse by many foreign governments to stop channelling the much-needed humanitarian aid and funding for reconstruction. A general election held in the last week of November 2010 has been viewed widely as flawed. It is estimated that only 10 per cent of the eligible voters participated in the election.

It was only in the last week of January that the ruling Unity party announced that its candidate, Jude Celestin, would not be contesting in the presidential run-off vote. Haiti's Election Commission had declared him the runner-up in the November election. A date for the final round of the presidential election is yet to be announced. A former first lady, Mirlande Marligat, will now be facing a popular musician, Michel Martely, in the final round. In the official count, Martely had come third, narrowly trailing Celestin.

Martely's supporters resorted to violence in the capital after the election results were announced, and five people were killed. The Organisation of American States (OAS) has forced the Haitian government to remove Celestin, the hand-picked candidate of the current President, Andre Preval, from the fray. Officials of the ruling party said that their candidate withdrew because of pressure from international donors. Because Unity does not want the people to suffer even more, we chose not to provoke the international community over the election, the party said in a statement.

Observers said it was highly unusual and unprecedented for an electoral authority to change the results without a full recount. The final round to elect a new President was supposed to be held on January 16.

Rendering the political situation even more farcical, the former dictator Jean Claude Baby Doc Duvalier returned to Haiti in the beginning of the year saying he wanted to serve his people again. More than 50,000 people were killed during Duvalier's long rule. He used the notorious secret service, Tonton Macoute, to terrorise and subdue the populace.

Meanwhile, Haiti's most popular leader, former President Bertand Aristide, remains in forced exile in South Africa. He has expressed a desire to return to his homeland so that he can be with his people in their time of need. But the United States and some vested interests in Haiti do not want him back. Aristide was overthrown in a U.S.-backed coup in 2004.

P.J. Crawley, the U.S. State Department spokesman, said the Obama administration did not doubt Aristide's desire to help the people of Haiti. However, he added that Haiti needed to look to the future not to the past. He suggested that Aristide was a divisive figure whose presence in the country would distract from the task of forming a new government. Aristide's party, Fanmi Lavalas, was not allowed to contest in the November election. This led to large-scale popular abstention from voting.

AID COMMITMENTS NOT MET

The international community reacted with a sense of urgency when the earthquake struck Haiti on January 12 last year. Huge amounts of aid $10 million were pledged from all parts of the world. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed former U.S. President Bill Clinton as his Special Envoy to Haiti. But despite Clinton's apparently hands-on approach, little tangible progress was made on the ground. Thirty-five counties and some multilateral agencies pledged $3.8 billion specifically for reconstruction. Many of them have now backed away from their commitments. Twenty countries still remain committed to providing assistance, but the amount pledged for reconstruction has now diminished to $1.5 billion.

According to reports compiled by international agencies, less than a tenth of the total international aid promised to Haiti has arrived. And much of it has not been disbursed. Even before the earthquake struck, Haiti was among the poorest nations in the world. It was known as the Republic of NGOs (non-governmental organisations). U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned in January last of dire consequences if the efforts to rebuild were slow or insufficient and if it is marked by conflict, lack of coordination or lack of transparency. Haiti has witnessed all the three scenarios: there is conflict and utter lack of coordination and transparency. Haiti is situated virtually at the doorstep of one of the world's richest countries, the U.S.

The mandate of the U.N. Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (Minustah) has been extended, but many of the countries that have provided a large number of peacekeepers, such as Brazil, have indicated that they want to opt out. U.N. peacekeepers are anyway not a popular lot in Haiti these days. They have been targets of increasing mob violence, especially after the outbreak of cholera last year. The cholera virus was of a South Asian strain. Many experts agree with the theory that it originated from Nepal. There is a sizable Nepali peace-keeping force in Minustah, and the first cases of cholera were reported from a small town where they were posted. The cholera outbreak in October claimed more than 2,500 lives and is spreading to the camps of earthquake survivors.

Unable to raise the $184 million needed to combat the epidemic, the U.N. has issued an emergency appeal to the international community. The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned in the second week of January that the epidemic had not yet peaked.

P.J. Patterson, the former Prime Minister of Jamaica and the Caribbean Community's special representative to Haiti, has spoken about the appalling conditions he witnessed during a visit in January. The mountains of rubble still exist, the plight of the victims without any sign of acceptable temporary shelter is worsening the conditions for the spread of cholera, and the threat of new epidemics becomes more frightening with each passing day, he told the media. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Canada, who are among the biggest aid providers to Haiti, appear to be keen on scaling down their involvement. The U.S. had pledged $1.5 billion but has disbursed only $120 million so far. Canada, which had promised $375 million, has provided only $55.3 million.

However, neighbouring Cuba, which is facing serious economic problems itself, continues to play a low-profile but important role. Cuba has deployed 1,295 of its doctors and health workers in Haiti. Its medical team is providing yeomen service to the needy. The U.S., on the other hand, seems to have prioritised security concerns. U.S. military forces have virtually taken charge of the country from the U.N. American troops are in control of the ports and airports.

According to the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP), most of the 200 flights that land and take off every day from the Haitian capital's only airport belong to the U.S. Air Force. Their priorities are to secure the country, ours is to feed, said a WFP spokesman. Planeloads of humanitarian supplies have been turned back on several occasions to accommodate U.S. military aircraft.