Emeute dans un centre d’aide à Haïti – janvier 2010

Riot breaks out at Haiti aid centre

news.smh.com.au

January 24, 2010

AFP

UN troops have fired warning shots and sprayed tear gas on Haitian quake survivors after a food delivery to hundreds of them spiraled out of control in the capital.

The distribution of food, soybean oil, water and radios at a former military airfield began calmly on Saturday, with two long lines of people waiting patiently across the field, an AFP photographer saw.

Brazilian troops missed small early scuffles for aid by many who had seen no help since the massive January 12 earthquake reduced their homes to rubble, and were eventually forced to resort to tear gas and firing into the air.

Nevertheless, as order broke down and crowds poured out of the lines, the peacekeepers finally abandoned a pile of radios and other aid for people to fight over, as they stood by.

It was unclear if the delivery by the World Food Program and the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was finally completed.

The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to send 3,500 extra UN troops and police to quake-hit Haiti to help maintain order and protect humanitarian convoys.

The UN mission in Haiti, deployed in the impoverished nation since mid-2004, currently has roughly 7,000 troops, 2,000 police and about 2,000 civilian personnel.

A spokeswoman for the UN Organisation for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) at its operations centre in Geneva said the incident appeared to be isolated, with little violence reported in Haiti.

« It’s normal that there would be such isolated incidents due to exasperation and despair, » the spokeswoman, Elisabeth Byrs told AFP.

MINUSTAH still had the overall situation with aid deliveries « under control, » she added.

« Such violence is not representative of the Haitian people, the population has been calm and dignified, » in the wake of the quake, Byrs said.

She appealed to Haitians to remain calm and ensure that children, the elderly and infirm were not sidelined by scuffles during aid distribution.

Haïti: émeute dans un centre d’aide humanitaire

fr.euronews.net

22/01/10

Un gang armé a semé le chaos dans un centre de distribution de nourriture dans la banlieue de Port-au-Prince.

Armé, un groupe d’hommes, s’est mis à taper sur des Haïtiens qui faisaient la queue en attendant leur sac de riz ou autre.

Aucun service de sécurité n‘était en place, le centre d’aide a rapidement été débordé et assailli par les émeutiers et une foule d’un millier de personnes en colère qui a voulu se servir pour ne pas laisser le gang prendre le dessus.

La situation est déjà habituellement tendue dans de tels lieux de distributions. Celui-ci est une plate-forme de plusieurs associations humanitaires américaines…