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<font size=3>CARICOM BLOCKED...as US takes control of airport<br>
Rickey Singh Barbados<br><br>
Sunday, January 17th 2010<br><br>
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IN DIRE NEED: A woman reacts in a street in Port-au-Prince, Haiti,
yesterday. Relief groups and officials are focused on moving aid flowing
into Haiti to survivors of the powerful 7.0 earthquake that hit the
country on Tuesday. -Photo: AP <br><br>
THE CARIBBEAN Community’s emergency aid mission to Haiti, comprising
Heads of Government and leading technical officials, failed to secure
permission Friday to land at that devastated country’s airport, now under
the control of the United States. <br><br>
Consequently, the Caricom ’assessment mission’, that was to determine
priority humanitarian needs resulting from the mind-boggling earthquake
disaster of Haiti last Tuesday, had to travel back from Jamaica to their
respective home destinations.. <br><br>
On Friday afternoon the US State Department confirmed signing two
"Memoranda of Understanding’ with the Government of Haiti that made
"official that the United Stateas is in charge of all inbound and
outbound flights and aid off-loading..."<br><br>
Further, according to the agreements signed, US medical personnel
"now have the authority to operate on Haitian citizens and otherwise
render medical assistance without having to wait for licences from
Haiti’s government..."<br><br>
Prior to the US taking control of Haiti’s airport, a batch of some 30
Cuban doctors had left Havana, following Wednesday’s earthquake, to join
more than 300 of their colleagues who have been working there for more
than a year. <br><br>
Last evening the frustration suffered by the Caricom mission to get
landing permission was expected to be raised in a scheduled meeting at
Jamaica’s Norman Manley International Airport with US Secretary of State,
Hilary Clinton. <br><br>
Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding who was making arrangements for
the meeting with Clinton, following her visit earlier in the day to
witness the devastation of the capital Port-au-Prince, said he could not
comment on details to be discussed. <br><br>
He, however, told this correspondent: "I appreciate the chaos and
confusion at Haiti’s airport, where there is just one operational runway.
But Haiti is a member of Caricom and we simply have to be facilitated and
the truth is, there is hardly a functioning government in
Haiti..."<br><br>
Asked whether the difficulties encountered by the Caricom mission may be
related to reports that US authorities were not anxious to facilitate
landing of aircraft from Cuba and Venezuela, Prime Minister Golding said
he could "only hope that there is no truth to such immature thinking
in the face of the horrific scale of Haiti’s tragedy..."<br><br>
Golding, who has lead portfolio responsibility among Caricom leaders for
external economic relations, had a personal first-hand assessment when he
flew to Haiti on Thusday. <br><br>
A contingent of some 150 members of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF has
since established a camp with medical facilities in the vicinity of
Haiti’s airport. <br><br>
Ahead of last evening scheduled meeting with Secretary of State Clinton,
Prime Minister Golding had discussed on Friday in Kingstom some of the
problems to be overcome at a meeting he held in Kingston on Friday with
the Prime Ministers of Barbados and Dominica and including the
Community’s Secretary General.. <br><br>
Among urgent matters to be discussed with Secretary Clinton was to be
possible use of the Norman Manley Airport as a primary hub, given its
short distance from Haiti (45 minutes), for all emergency missions.
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The Community’s Secretary General (Edwin Carrington) explained that
proper use of the Norman Manley Airport would be consistent with a
decision last week for Jamaica to serve as the Sub-regional Operational
Focal Point (SOFP) responses to the Haitian humanitarian crisis.<br>
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