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<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/20101179352631832.html" eudora="autourl">
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/20101179352631832.html</a>
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(scathing video about US & UN militarization)<br><br>
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<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011831019984373.html" eudora="autourl">
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/01/201011831019984373.html<br>
</a>Monday, January 18, 2010 <br>
16:06 Mecca time, 13:06 GMT <br><br>
</font><font size=4><b>Frustration mounts over Haiti aid <br><br>
</b></font><font size=3>Tensions are rising on the streets of Haiti as
the bulk of earthquake survivors continue to go without food, medicine or
proper shelter.<br><br>
Aid organisations continued to struggle to reach them with supplies on
Sunday, six nights after the devastating earthquake that killed tens of
thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.<br><br>
A bottleneck at the capital's small airport – the main entry point for
the massive assistance pledged by world leaders following the disaster –
means little help has reached the many people waiting for help in
makeshift camps on streets strewn with debris and decomposing
bodies.<br><br>
<b>Airport bottleneck<br><br>
</b>Some aid agencies have complained about a lack of co-ordination at
the Port-au-Prince airport, where the US military has taken over
operations. <br><br>
Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, (MSF) said an
aircraft carrying a mobile hospital was denied permission to land at the
airport on Saturday and diverted to neighbouring Dominican Republic,
where it would take a further 24 hours to deliver supplies by
road.<br><br>
"Priority must be given immediately to planes carrying lifesaving
equipment and medical personnel," MSF said in a statement.<br><br>
Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, reporting from Port-au-Prince, said quake
survivors in the capital were growing increasingly frustrated over what
appeared to be the mismanagement or miscommunication that was holding up
the aid.<br><br>
In the absence of large scale foreign help, Haitians were trying to help
each other, our correspondent said, with some turning homes into
hospitals to treat the wounded and others giving away food, but food
supplies and other resources were running out.<br><br>
People could see helicopters flying overhead, US military vehicles in the
city and aeroplanes arriving at the airport with supplies, so it was
difficult to understand why little aid appeared to be reaching the
people, she said.<br><br>
Meanwhile the European Union pledged over $575m in emergency and
long-term aid, the bloc said on Monday.<br><br>
The union is also moving towards sending 150 people to assist the police
force and help beef up security, as tensions in the Caribbean nation
rise.<br><br>
<b>US defends position<br><br>
</b>The US military said on Sunday that it was doing its best to get as
many aircraft as possible into Port-au-Prince. <br><br>
The airport's control tower was knocked out by the quake and US military
air controllers were operating from a radio post on the airfield grass,
he said.<br><br>
"What we set up here would be similar to running a major airport ...
without any communications, electricity or computers," Colonel Buck
Elton, the US commander at the airport, told reporters by
telephone.<br><br>
He said there had been 600 take-offs and landings since his crew took
over operations at the one-runway airport's traffic on Wednesday, and 50
flights had been diverted.<br><br>
But the flow of air traffic was improving, he said, with only three of 67
incoming flights being rerouted on Saturday, and only two flights
diverted on Sunday.<br><br>
Speaking to Al Jazeera, PJ Crowley, a spokesman for the US state
department, defended the US handling of Haiti's airport and international
aid.<br><br>
He said changes in airport procedures "to increase efficiency and
effectiveness", as well as "a technical reason", were
possible reasons why some aeroplanes were not allowed to land.<br><br>
Pointing out that the US military had, by adding to the infrastructure of
the airport, increased flights from 20 a day to 60 a day, he said
whatever limited infrastructure Haiti had before the quake was devastated
by the quake and it had taken time to "maximise the flow of
everything that Haiti needs".<br><br>
On claims that military aeroplanes with troops were being allowed to land
while those carrying aid supplies were not, he said that was
"absolutely not true".<br><br>
"They are bringing in aid, communications gear for the Haitian
government so they can begin to operate and function once again," he
said.<br><br>
Not only food, water, healthcare, he said, but also "the kinds of
gear that allows us to save lives, to bring in capacity so that they can
establish an effective network to distribute food among the three million
people in the city".<br><br>
<b>Signs of progress<br><br>
</b>There were some signs of progress on Sunday as international medical
teams took over damaged hospitals and clinics where injured and sick
people had lain untreated for days.<br>
<br>
A few street markets had begun selling vegetables and charcoal in the
capital and US officials said international search teams had rescued at
least 61 people alive so far. <br><br>
Hundreds of trucks carrying aid and guarded by armed UN patrols streamed
from the airport and UN headquarters out into the city on Sunday but they
were soon obstructed on streets clogged with people, debris and vans
carrying coffins and bodies.<br><br>
There were also scrums for food and water as UN trucks distributed food
packets and US military helicopters dropped boxes of water bottles and
rations.<br><br>
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, who visited Port-au-Prince on
Sunday, said the situation in the country was "one of the worst
humanitarian crises in decades".<br><br>
Amid shouts of "where is the food? Where is the help?" from
survivors and asked if he feared riots over the delays in aid, Ban
appealed to the Haitian people "to be more patient".<br><br>
Haitian government officials say 70,000 bodies have already been buried
in mass graves and estimate the total death toll to be between 100,000
and 200,000.<br><br>
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies <br><br>
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