Armed opponents of Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide were poised on Wednesday to make further territorial gains as a French aid group warned about a potential humanitarian disaster.
The UN Security Council, meanwhile, called for a peaceful solution to the escalating crisis in Haiti, where more than 55 people have been killed in the past two weeks in an armed uprising against the government.
Port-au-Prince and Cap Haitien, the country’s second-largest city, were quiet on Wednesday, but residents said police had fled a number of small towns along the border with the Dominican Republic.
Residents said police were no longer present in the towns of Maissade, Belladere, Thomonde, Pandiassou and Savanette along the border with the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.
Armed rebels in the area have not occupied the abandoned towns but were making incursions in new Toyota four-wheel-drive vehicles, residents said.
In Paris, Action against Hunger (ACF), a leading French non-governmental group, said the violence tearing apart the Caribbean nation will lead to major food shortages within weeks if the international community does nothing.
”The situation has not stopped deteriorating for the Haitian people under the indifference of their leaders and the gaze of an international community waiting on the sidelines,” ACF said in a statement.
The group said the situation could worsen within two or three weeks because of the near paralysis of land transport.
ACF — which has been working in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, since 1988 — urged that food and water distribution be set up, especially for children and the elderly.
Canada announced it was sending 1,15 million dollars (US$ 870-million) in food and medical aid to be distributed by the UN World Food Programme and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
In New York, the 15-nation UN Security Council condemned the bloodshed in Haiti and urged Aristide and opposition leaders to ”restore confidence and dialogue.”
”Members of the Security Council expressed their deep concern over the increasing violence and political crisis in Haiti leading to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation,” it said.
”Council members strongly condemned these acts of violence and called upon all those who perpetrate them to put an end to such action. They also expressed their deep concern at the massive violations of human rights occurring in Haiti.”
Brazil, Argentina, Chile and other South American nations echoed the same concerns in a statement calling for a political dialogue.
Aristide’s government has appealed for international assistance to help put down the rebellion but has been rebuffed by the United States, while diplomats at the UN said the Security Council was not prepared to consider sending UN forces.
Instead, the council threw its weight behind the efforts by the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the Organisation of American States to try to end the crisis. US Secretary of State Colin Powell said there was no current plan for an international intervention in Haiti.
”Right now, there are no plans for the outside world to come in and impose a police or military solution on this problem,” he said in an interview with Cox Broadcasting and News Service.
He added, however, ”We’re willing to help with it after a political settlement has been arrived at … the international community is prepared to do what it can to help with additional police forces once a political settlement has been arrived at.”
Those already on board to eventually help Haiti include United States, the Organisation of American States, the United Nations, France, Senegal and the 15-nation Caribbean community, Caricom, said Powell.
Dominican President Hipolito Mejia said it was ”very difficult” to control his country’s border with Haiti.
In another development, Canada’s Air Transat announced that it was suspending flights between Montreal and Port-au-Prince until April because of the security situation.
Aristide, who has vowed to stay in office until his term ends in 2006, has been ruling by decree after failed elections last year left Haiti without a functioning legislature.
In 1994, US president Bill Clinton sent 20 000 troops to return Aristide to power after he was ousted in a coup. The country’s army was disbanded in 1995 and it has a 5 300-strong police force to maintain order. – Sapa-AFP