Tuesday - November 16, 2010

What Time Is It In Cap Haitien?

As the cholera death count in Haiti climbs over 1000, Haitians attack UN aide workers, blaming them for the outbreak. Rioting and death ensues. Pack it in white boys, it’s time to go home.

Protesters in Haiti, blaming United Nations troops for a cholera epidemic that has killed hundreds of people, attacked U.N. peacekeepers in two cities on Monday.

One protester was shot dead in the clashes and six U.N. peacekeepers were injured.

The U.N. mission blamed the violence in Cap-Haitien and Hinche on political agitators it said were bent on stirring up unrest ahead of presidential and legislative elections set for November 28 in the earthquake-hit Caribbean country.

In Cap-Haitien, Haiti’s second city on the north coast, U.N. blue helmets were fired on by armed demonstrators and one demonstrator was killed when a peacekeeper opened fire in self-defense, the U.N. mission (MINUSTAH) said in a statement.

U.N. troops also used tear gas against the protesters.

“MINUSTAH reiterates its firm commitment to support the Haitian national police in maintaining order and security in the country to guarantee the continuation of the electoral process and Haiti’s reconstruction,” the U.N. statement said.

At Hinche in the central region, U.N. peacekeepers were among several people injured by stone-throwing protesters who attacked Nepalese troops stationed there.

The Nepalese have been the subject of widespread rumors that they brought the cholera bacteria behind the month-long epidemic of the deadly disease in Haiti that has killed more than 900 people and sickened close to 15,000.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said DNA testing shows the cholera strain in Haiti is most closely related to a strain from South Asia. But it has not pinpointed the source or linked it directly to the Nepalese troops, whom the U.N. says tested negative for the disease.

Officials and residents in Cap-Haitien said earlier on Monday that hundreds of protesters yelling anti-U.N. slogans had set up burning barricades and torched a police station.

“The whole city is blocked, businesses and schools have closed, cars have been burned. It’s chaos here,” a businessman in Cap-Haitien, Georgesmain Prophete, told Reuters.

Last month, in the central town of Saint-Marc, at the heart of the cholera outbreak, stone-throwing residents apparently fearing contagion disrupted the setting up of a cholera treatment center, burning several tents.

Aid Workers Fear Cholera Epidemic May Overwhelm Haitian Hospitals

More than 1,000 people have died and at least 14,600 have been hospitalized in Haiti. Health care workers consider those numbers to be understated.

The United Nations forecasted up to 200,000 Haitians could contract cholera as the outbreak extends.

Aid workers fear the growing numbers may soon overwhelm Haiti’s health care facilities.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/16/2010 at 04:14 PM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
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