Haiti roundup

The situation is Haiti is worsening, and aid agencies in the area are warning that the fighting is preventing food from reaching civilians…

…the World Health Organization warns a food crisis is looming because roadblocks are preventing deliveries to 268,000 people in the north dependent on food aid.

Caribbean states seem to be relatively alert to the dangers of allowing this conflict to escalate. Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago returned from recent talks with Haiti’s opposition and several other Caribbean nations cautiously optimistic that international intervention could be on the way…

Though Haiti has not asked for a peacekeeping force, Manning said members of the 15-nation Caribbean Community might help ease tensions through participation in a neutral peacekeeping force.

“We saw the need, in the context of a return of confidence to all sides, to have some kind of impartial peacekeeping force present in Haiti at the earliest possible opportunity”

He went on to caution that there were no concrete plans to deploy troops at this stage…

“These are just proposals, therefore no details were discussed.”

The BBC reports that the US is extremely concerned at the situation, and called on the Haitian government to respect human rights…

“We are extremely concerned about the wave of violence sweeping through Haiti, and we certainly deeply regret the loss of life,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters.

“We call on the government to respect the rights, especially the human rights of the citizens and residents of Haiti.”

However, the US also has no plans to intervene directly at this stage…

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the sending of troops was not being considered.

I’m hopeful that Manning’s comments means that there is at least some semi-serious consideration being given to deploying peacekeepers in Haiti, although at this stage it looks a long way off. The US would probably be ready to provide political support for an intervention that didn’t involve its own troops. However, no Caribbean nation is in a position to put peacekeepers on the ground without, as a very minimum, logistical support from the US, and it isn’t yet clear whether that support would be forthcoming.

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