"More than six weeks after the fourth cyclone in three weeks hit Haiti the
relief operation has almost ground to a halt according to a major aid
organisation there. Max Cosci, spokesperson for Medicins Sans Frontieres in Haiti, says that a mixture of red tape and a failure to properly coordinate the work of different aid agencies is to blame. "There are a lot of organisations, especially NGOs and humanitarian organisations, international or national and there is not a clear coordination among them" he says.... Haiti's Prime Minister, Michele Pierre-Louis, agrees that the relief operation is badly organised and that her government is finding it impossible to coordinate the work of many international aid agencies. "It's true that there is a major coordination problem. You see, a lot of NGOs do as they wish and the government has not been able, so far, to coordinate their efforts," she says.
Ms Pierre-Louis says this is because western countries have long viewed Haitian governments as corrupt and inefficient. As a result they channel their donations through international aid agencies, or NGOs, who then virtually run the show. She insists that times have changed and foreign aid organisations should now allow her ministers to better co-ordinate their activities.
But Ms. Pierre-Louis believes the world's financial crisis, which has resulted in much of the promised aid failing to arrive in Haiti, is an even bigger problem.
"Close to a month after [the last cyclone] we only got 10% of the amount
solicited," she says. (Haiti aid effort unravels by Mike Thomson, BBC News, Oct. 24, 2008)
And the same USAID/US/UN/NGO chorus plays on in Haiti right now.
The people suffer and are dying.
Ezili Dantò of HLLN
February 7, 2010
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Forwarded by Ezili's Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
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Recommended HLLN Links from 2008:
Starvation slams Haiti
Kids dying after 4 storms ravage crops, livestock
http://bit.ly/axTWdT
Haiti: storm victims starve, Nov. 4, 2008
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/damocles.html#starve
Haiti aid effort unravels by Mike Thomson, BBC News, Oct. 24, 2008
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/MaxwellOct_08.html#unravels
US lawmaker calls for action against Haiti hunger , Nov. 26, 2008
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/Vodun.html#hunger
Food Donation Rot in New York while Haitian Storm Victims Starve and Die, Sept. 8, 2008 http://bit.ly/cAPKSo
Congresswoman Waters Calls on USAID to Save the lives of Children Starving in Haiti
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/Vodun.html#USAID
HLLN on oversight needed on USAID
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/Vodun.html#oversightUSAID
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