[HaitiReport] Haiti Report for November 5, 2007
 
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 07:53:53 -0600 (CST)


Haiti Report for November 5, 2007

The Haiti Report is a compilation and summary of events as described
in Haiti and international media prepared by Konbit Pou Ayiti/KONPAY.
It does not reflect the opinions of any individual or organization.
This service is intended to create a better understanding of the
situation in Haiti by presenting the reader with reports that provide
a variety of perspectives on the situation.

To make a donation to support this service: Konbit Pou Ayiti, 7 Wall
Street, Gloucester, MA, 01930.

IN THIS REPORT:
- Death Toll of Tropical Storm Noel Rises
- **Haiti KONPAY Launches Emergency Appeal for Flood Victims
- Haitian Authorities Must Investigate Threats to Journalist
- Haitian Authorities Have Detained Seven in Kidnapping of Swiss
Filmmaker
- More Than 100 Sri Lankan Peacekeepers Accused of Sexual
Exploitation and Abuse
- Dominican Republic Minister Blasts Racism Report
- Haiti Investigating Jatropha as Alternative Fuel Source

Death Toll of Tropical Storm Noel Rises:
Haitians observed the Day of the Dead on Thursday but the normally
raucous celebrations were muted by the death and destruction caused
by Tropical Storm Noel. Noel has killed at least 40 people in Haiti
since first hitting the island of Hispaniola, which the country
shares with the Dominican Republic, Sunday night. The storm came on
the heels of an earlier deluge north of Port-au-Prince, meaning Haiti
has lost more than 77 to floods over the past month. Residents of
Duvivier, a district in the seaside slum of Cite Soleil, always
celebrated the two-day festival with parties lasting until dawn. But
this year, there was only the sound of women pleading for help as
they cried over the ruins of their collapsed houses and mourned those
killed when the Riviere Grise burst its banks. Ermane Janvier, 87,
was pulled into a raging current and drowned before dawn Tuesday. The
farmer, sole provider for seven of his children and grandchildren,
had been trying to salvage his family's belongings.  "I don't know
what I am going to do," said his daughter, Marie-Carole Janvier, 53.
"I don't have a place to stay with the kids." In Cite Soleil, more
than 4,000 evacuees from areas like Duvivier spent a third day in
shelters.

Some traditional Day of the Dead celebrations did take place. The
National Cemetery came alive with color and singing, processions with
cows and goats and chants for the deceased. The holiday, known in
Haitian Creole as "Gede," is a festival of singing, rum-drinking and
shouting meant to awaken Baron Samedi, the Voodoo spirit of the dead.
Harkening to its Christian and African roots, revelers carry crosses,
candles and sometimes human skulls, and party atop their relatives'
graves. Men with the Society of the Flower of the Black Virgin,
dressed in white gowns and African-style caps, said Haiti had to stop
the rampant deforestation that has denuded its hills and left it
susceptible to floods. "Each of these trees is a life spirit. The
more trees we cut, the more we suffer," said the group's leader,
"Emperor" Dessaville Espady. (AP, 11/1)

U.N. helicopters were waiting out driving rain that lashed Haiti on
Friday before they could assess flood damage from Tropical Storm
Noel, which killed at least 48 here and left thousands homeless. The
new showers from Noel's outer bands raised fears of further deaths in
a country prone to catastrophic flooding. In the Dominican Republic,
which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, the rains largely
let up, allowing flights carrying urgently needed relief supplies.
Authorities in the Dominican Republic confirmed 82 deaths and said at
least 62,000 were left homeless by the storm.  U.S. Southern Command
officials said Friday they would send rescue teams to Dominican
Republic over the weekend. Two helicopters from the U.S. Coast Guard
have already been deployed. The United States has contributed more
than $1 million in aid. The storm grew into Hurricane Noel as it
passed Thursday over the Bahamas, where flooding killed one man and
forced the evacuation of nearly 400 people. The storm then shifted
north over the ocean and headed parallel to the U.S. Atlantic coast
toward Nova Scotia. Noel is the deadliest storm of the 2007 Atlantic
hurricane season, with at least 132 dead. (AP, 11/2)

Thousands of Haitians sought shelter in schoolhouses Saturday as the
death toll from Tropical Storm Noel rose to 142 across the Caribbean.
Ten new deaths were reported as heavy rains continued to pound Haiti,
leaving U.N. and Haitian officials temporarily stranded as they
toured Haiti's flooded southwest area of Les Cayes. Noel, which was
lashing the northeastern United States with high winds and rough surf
Saturday, is the deadliest storm of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane
season, with the greatest devastation on the waterlogged island of
Hispaniola, shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.  Desperation
set in at shelters in the volatile Port-au-Prince slum of Cite
Soleil, with people at one schoolhouse complaining on Saturday that
U.N. guards abandoned the site overnight, allowing for a group of
machete-wielding men to enter and threaten to rape young women.
Roseline Pierre, a 46-year-old mother with four children, said they
had not received any food since Friday afternoon, and that shelter
officials locked them out of classrooms Friday night, forcing
everyone to sleep in the yard. "What they're doing to them is
terrible," said Laine Pierre Raymond, an official with the Ministry
of Interior who toured the shelter on Saturday and criticized
authorities for their inaction. Maj. Gen. Carlos Alberto Dos Santos
Cruz, Brazilian commander of the U.N. force in Haiti, denied that
guards left their post overnight. In Les Cayes, residents demanded
government compensation for the cows, goats and even TV sets they had
lost in the flood. "It rained for two days without stopping," said 44-
year-old farmer Marcel Delswain. "We lost our land. We lost our food.
We feel abandoned." The Haitian government, still struggling to
rebuild after years of turmoil, has been almost entirely dependent on
overtaxed international aid groups and a U.N. peacekeeping force to
cope with the disaster. (AP, 11/3)

**Haiti KONPAY Launches Emergency Appeal for Flood Victims: Haiti
KONPAY, based in Gloucester, MA and Jacmel, Haiti, is launching an
emergency aid campaign for victims of the floods in southern Haiti.
In the wake of the deadliest storm of the 2007 season, families are
stranded in the flood waters across the southern region of Haiti,
wondering how they will rebuild their lives. Tropical Storm Noel left
no part of the island untouched, and more than one hundred and forty
have been reported dead throughout the Caribbean. Haiti KONPAY will
distribute emergency assistance to communities in the hardest hit
region of the country. Haiti is baring visible scars from its most
recent bouts with Mother Nature. Heavy rains in October produced a
mudslide that killed dozens in Cabaret while at the same time
destroying fields, homes, and lives in Les Cayes. Winds and rain this
week stranded UN and government officials as they toured the
devastated southern region.

Agronomist Isaac Cherestal, from the grassroots-based CAPAS in the
southern city of Les Cayes reported, After the rain many houses were
destroyed in all the coastal zones. There are no more gardens in
these areas, which means there will be hunger. Haiti KONPAY is
collecting funds for direct assistance to families in the Jacmel and
Les Cayes regions. Haiti KONPAY will invest some of the funds in long-
term projects for the environment. Families are facing months of
grinding hunger due to lost gardens and animals, but without
concentrated efforts to protect and restore the natural environment
Haiti will continue to face dramatic loss of life due to severe
weather. Haiti KONPAY is coordinating efforts to create a vital
network of environmental organizations and institutions in Haiti. The
Haitian National Coalition for the Environment was recently launched
to link people together throughout Haitis ten geographical
departments. Massive intensive reforestation is the goal that unites
the more than thirty organizations participating in the Coalition,
along with finding and promoting an alternative to charcoal.
(www.konpay.org)

Haitian Authorities Must Investigate Threats to Journalist:
Haitian authorities must fully investigate multiple death threats
made against prominent journalist and press freedom advocate Joseph
Guyler Delva, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday.
"We call on Haitian authorities to conduct a speedy and thorough
investigation into the threats against Joseph Guyler Delva and to
bring all those responsible to justice," said CPJ's Executive
Director Joel Simon. "Authorities should also provide Delva with the
necessary protection to allow him to continue to work safely." Delva
told CPJ that he received two calls to his cell phone last Thursday
that were placed from blocked numbers. The anonymous callers warned
the journalist that he should be careful, that they knew where he
was, and that they were going to "get him." Delva said he received
similar calls over the next several days. The journalist said he
notified local authorities. Delva hosts a morning news show on the
Port-au-Prince-based Radio Milodie FM. He is also the Port-au-Prince
correspondent for the BBC, Reuters, the Caribbean Media Corporation,
and the New York-based Haitian Times. He is president of the local
press freedom group S.O.S. Journalistes and head of a recently
created independent committee of Haitian journalists that reviews the
progress of official investigations into the unsolved murders of
journalists in Haiti. Among the cases now being reviewed by the
independent committee is the unsolved slaying of Jean-Leopold
Dominique, owner and director of Radio Haoti-Inter. Dominique, one of
the country's most renowned journalists, was gunned down on April 3,
2000, outside the entrance to his Port-au-Prince station.  (Caribbean
Net News, 11/2)

Haitian Authorities Have Detained Seven in Kidnapping of Swiss
Filmmaker:
Haitian authorities have detained at least seven people for
questioning in the kidnapping of a Swiss filmmaker, including a woman
who was with him at the time of his abduction, a police official said
Wednesday. Thomas Noreille was taken late Saturday by three gunmen
while driving with a Haitian woman in Petionville, a relatively
wealthy district in the hills east of Port-au-Prince that is home to
many foreigners and diplomats. Relatives were contacted Monday with a
ransom demand for an undisclosed amount of money, U.N. police
spokesman Fred Blaze said. Authorities are questioning the woman and
six other people, whose names have not been released, said Police
Comm. Francene Moreau. "We're working very hard on the case," he
said. Members of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti are aiding the
investigation, Blaze said. Officials at the Swiss Embassy in Port-au-
Prince and the Swiss Foreign Ministry in Bern declined to comment
Wednesday, saying they did not want to jeopardize Noreille's safety.
Noreille has directed several documentaries about Haiti, including
one still in production about singers active in political protest,
according to the Web site of Digiprod, a production company with
offices in Switzerland and Haiti. (AP, 10/24)

More Than 100 Sri Lankan Peacekeepers Accused of Sexual Exploitation
and Abuse:
More than 100 Sri Lankan peacekeepers have been accused of sexual
exploitation and abuse in Haiti and will be sent home on Saturday,
the United Nations said, in the latest sexual abuse scandal involving
U.N. peacekeeping missions. U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said on
Friday 108 of Sri Lanka's 950 soldiers in Haiti were being sent home
on disciplinary grounds. "The United Nations and the Sri Lankan
government deeply regret any sexual exploitation and abuse that has
occurred," Montas told reporters, adding that U.N. authorities were
working to assist the victims. Asked about the specific allegations
against the peacekeepers, Montas said they involved "transactional
sex." "There is a question of some underage girls," she added.
Montas said Sri Lanka would take further action against those accused
of abuse. "They are back under national jurisdiction. So far Sri
Lanka has said ... that they are going to be prosecuted in Sri
Lanka." Over the last few years as peacekeeping missions have
expanded, reports of abuse have spread in various African nations,
especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo, despite the U.N.'s
declared "zero-tolerance" policy. (Reuters, 11/2)

The United Nations ordered 108 Sri Lankan soldiers serving as
peacekeepers in Haiti to return home Saturday after a preliminary
investigation found they paid for prostitutes, including some who
might be underage. Sri Lanka also decided to repatriate the
battalion's second in command and two company commanders, U.N.
spokeswoman Michele Montas said Friday. She said the U.N. Mission in
Haiti requested an immediate investigation after receiving
"allegations of incidents of sexual exploitation and abuse by
members" of the Sri Lankan battalion. Based on a preliminary report
by the U.N.'s internal watchdog, 108 of the 950 Sri Lankan soldiers
will be repatriated on disciplinary grounds for apparently engaging
prostitutes, she said. "There is a question of some underage girls,"
she added. The revelations mark another blow for U.N. peacekeeping,
which has faced similar allegations elsewhere.

In 2004, peacekeepers in Congo were accused of sexually exploiting
girls as young as 13, embarrassing the world body at a time when key
member states were pressing for reforms. Abuses also have been
reported in peacekeeping missions in Liberia, Ivory Coast, Bosnia,
Kosovo, Cambodia and East Timor. The United Nations has a zero-
tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and a strict code of conduct
that has been agreed to by all countries contributing to the
missions. More than 100,000 personnel are currently serving in 18
peacekeeping missions around the world, and new missions in Sudan and
Chad will be starting shortly. The code of conduct prevents U.N.
personnel from soliciting prostitutes, even if prostitution is legal
in a country, and it sets the age of consensual sex at 18. Sri Lanka
sent investigators from Colombo, including a female investigative
officer. Prosecutions in Sri Lanka are planned, and both the U.N.
mission in Haiti and Sri Lankan officials are discussing how to help
the victims, she said. A major problem in past cases of sexual
exploitation by U.N. peacekeepers has been that soldiers are sent
home but left unpunished. U.N. officials expressed satisfaction that
Sri Lanka sent its own investigators and plans to prosecute, and said
the U.N. will be tracking what happens next. (AP, 11/2)

Dominican Republic Minister Blasts Racism Report:
Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso has blasted the
report submitted by two human rights activists that visited the DR
last week. Morales Troncoso's comments were echoed by Presidential
Legal Advisor Cesar Pina Toribio. In separate statements, they agreed
that the report was biased. Morales Troncoso said that the observers
had come with their report already written. Doudou Diene (who is
married to a Haitian woman) and Gay McDougall (member of the
committee that gave Sonia Pierre the Kennedy Award for her activisim
in favor of Haitian migrants) were considered to have been biased in
their reporting. Sonia Pierre advocates that all children of
foreigners born in the Dominican Republic be granted Dominican
nationality. Morales Troncoso said that this was "not a surprise for
us that without knowing our reality these observers could produce
this diagnostic in just a few days, because we know what is behind
this." The visitors concluded that while there is not a racist
official policy, there is profound racism in the DR against Haitians,
their descendents and negros. Morales said, as reported in Diario
Libre: "Our border with Haiti has its problems, but it is our reality
and needs to be understood. It is important not to confuse national
sovereignty with indifference, and security with xenophobia," said
Morales. He said the DR has a long tradition of upholding human
rights and would be proud to compare its track record with any other
country. He said the statement of the visitors does not necessarily
mean it is the truth, especially under Dominican laws. He pointed out
the opportunities Haitians have found for jobs in construction,
agriculture and other services in the DR. Meanwhile, he said the
country would continue to seek that Haiti receives the treatment it
deserves from the international community. And that the DR would
continue to extend its solidarity to brother Haitians. (DR1 Daily
News, 10/31)

Haiti Investigating Jatropha as Alternative Fuel Source:
Haiti is looking to a small shrub called jatropha to fuel an
alternative energy boom that may help cut the impoverished country's
reliance on oil and charcoal. VOA's Brian Wagner reports the efforts
already are drawing the support of Brazil and the United States in
developing clean and renewable fuel supplies. The rising cost of
foreign oil has governments and researchers around the world
searching for cheaper and more sustainable forms of energy. In Haiti,
the hope is centered on a native plant called jatropha curcas, which
bears oily seeds that can be crushed and processed to produce diesel
fuel for generators or vehicles. The hardy shrub grows in a variety
of climates, and already has helped launch biodiesel programs in
India, Mali, Indonesia and other regions. Kathleen Robbins, who has
been promoting non-profit development programs in Haiti, says
jatropha could work in the Caribbean nation, where two thirds of the
population relies on farming. "It [jatropha] has the potential,
because it can be grown virtually anywhere, of creating a really
positive economic impact in rural Haiti," said Robbins. Robbins says
jatropha could provide a cheap source of fuel for rural areas that
are cut off from the nation's electricity grid. And she says, with a
hectare of jatropha seeds selling for about $600, it could become an
important new cash crop. "Six hundred dollars a hectare could make a
huge difference on a country where a lot of people are living on a
dollar or less a day," said Robbins.

Jatropha also provides a unique opportunity for Haiti, where soaring
demand for charcoal from timber has lead to deforestation of much of
the nation's hilly terrain. Advocates of jatropha say it can thrive
in the denuded land, and its small branches cannot be used for
charcoal. The challenge now is convincing farmers of the promise of
jatropha, when planting the seed oil crop could mean displacing
traditional food crops that are the main source of cash for many
peasants. Georges Valme, a Haitian-born American, thinks farmers
should not have to make that choice. With a small personal
investment, Valme has been helping to build nurseries in Haiti to
produce thousands of jatropha seedlings as well as avocado, tomato
and other food crops. Valme says farmers will need to plant both in
their fields, because jatropha seedlings will not mature for at least
three years. "While I am waiting for that jatropha to start giving
seeds, I will start making money," said Valme. "I will have a
structure, I will have people that are trained, they will know what
to do." The promise of jatropha in Haiti is drawing the attention of
Brazil, which has emerged as a world leader in biofuels thanks to its
sugar-based ethanol program for automobiles. Last week, a
representative of Brazilian jatropha growers met Haitian businessmen
in Port-au-Prince and agreed to fund a pilot jatropha program near
the capital.

Johanna Mendelson Forman, a senior associate at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies in Washington, says Brazil's
expertise in biofuels is crucial to the future of the Haitian
program. "What's exciting about the relationship with Brazil is that
we go beyond just appropriate technology to more sophisticated
production standards," said Forman. "And the Brazilians are already
moving toward standards for automobile and diesel engine use." Forman
says the jatropha partnership is one of the first programs to take
shape under an agreement that Brazil and the United States signed in
March to promote alternative energy efforts in the Caribbean and
Central America. President Bush has said the deal aims to help
partner nations reduce their dependence on foreign oil and develop
domestic sources of energy. For Haiti, the quest for domestic sources
of renewable fuel already is part of the nation's history. But
Georges Valme says Haitians must learn with jatropha not to make the
same mistakes they did with charcoal, which led to deforestation.
"Haiti has been living on renewable energy for the past 500 years,"
said Valme. "This is nothing new. It is just they don't know how to
hold [control] it." Valme says jatropha alone may not reverse decades
of damage to Haiti's land, but he is confident that it can bring
economic and environmental benefits to thousands of residents.
(Voice of America, 11/2)
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