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| Haiti police appeal for help over escaped prisoners |
| By news.bbc.co.uk |
| Published: 01/22/2010 |
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A police chief in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, has appealed for help to tackle criminals who escaped when the earthquake wrecked the main jail. Insp Aristide Rosemont, of the Cite Soleil slum area, told the BBC a large number of gangs had begun robbing and looting since the prison escape. Correspondents say security fears have slowed aid distribution in some areas. But despite problems in Cite Soleil, UN officials say the capital is largely calm, with only sporadic violence. Earlier this week former US President Bill Clinton, the UN special envoy to Haiti, told the BBC that people had "behaved pretty well" considering the dire circumstances they were in. And the US ambassador to Haiti, Kenneth Merten, told PBS that "people should be aware that the vast majority of Haitians here are behaving in a calm and peaceful manner". About 5,000 prisoners broke out of the capital's main jail after the walls collapsed. The BBC's Mark Doyle in Port-au-Prince says several hundred of those on the run from the main jail are thought to be hardened offenders belonging to Haiti's violent and sometimes powerful criminal gangs. Insp Rosemont said that since the mass escape, the gangs had been looting and stealing in Cite Soleil - historically a troubled area. Local people confirm this and women say they have been raped by gang members, our correspondent reports. Insp Rosemont has not said to whom he is appealing for help, our correspondent adds, but his plea is clearly aimed at the US troops who have just arrived in Haiti and the UN forces that have been stationed in the country for several years. Efforts to get relief supplies to the millions in need in Haiti continue, as search and rescue operations are scaled back. An estimated 1.5 million people were left homeless by the 7.0-magnitude quake, which some have estimated has killed as many as 200,000 people. Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told AFP news agency that some search and rescue teams were now starting to leave, as hopes of finding survivors fade. Those that remain "are concentrating more and more on humanitarian aid for those who need it", she said. Some 122 people have been saved by international search and rescue teams, according to the US government. At least 75,000 bodies have so far been buried in mass graves, Haiti's government has said. Many more remain uncollected in the streets. Meanwhile, efforts to rebuild Haiti's main seaport - seen as vital to the international aid effort - are being stepped up. Engineers have decided some parts of one pier are strong enough to handle limited amounts of cargo, but the port will be running at only 10% capacity and distribution of supplies remains slow. Four vessels had docked by Thursday evening and US military divers were to start repair work to the pier on Friday. In a bid to deliver greater quantities of aid, the US military is now operating at four airports in the region. 'Media obsessed' But even as the aid operation remains the focus of events in Haiti, a leading UK medical journal has issued a sharp critique of the way aid agencies have been operating. In an editorial, the Lancet says many of the international aid agencies operating in Haiti may be doing more harm than good by promoting themselves rather than working for the common humanitarian goal. The Lancet says the aid industry has become too obsessed with media campaigns, despite past mistakes during the response to the Asian tsunami five years ago. Lancet editor Dr Richard Horton told the BBC there was no effective common leadership of humanitarian workers in Haiti, as many non-governmental organisations were competing against each other. But Brendan Gormley, chief executive of the UK Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a UK-based umbrella group of 13 major aid agencies, rejected that view. "We do not recognise the picture of the aid response in Haiti painted by the Lancet," he said. "The Lancet editorial fails to take into account the huge efforts by dedicated staff and volunteers - both Haitians and international experts - who are working tirelessly to bring help to earthquake survivors. "To suggest that humanitarianism is no longer the ethos for many organisations within the aid world is risible." Read More. |
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