As food distribution improves, Haitians want U.S to 'take over'
But even as food-aid workers enjoyed their most successful day since the Jan. 12 earthquake, the increasingly prominent role of
The needs are extraordinary, and the common refrain is that the Americans will provide.
"I want the Americans to take over the country. The Haitian government can't do anything for us," said Jean-Louis Geffrard, a laborer who lives under a tarp in the crowded square. "When we tell the government we're hungry, the government says, 'We're hungry, too.' "
Added Canga Matthieu, a medical student whose school was destroyed: "The American government should take care of us."
"They're well organized. The
But help has its limits,
"The military forces . . . are not here to do any reconstruction. That is not our mission," said Col. Rick Kaiser, a U.S. Army engineer overseeing emergency repairs to the
Administration officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, describe virtually every activity here as "Haiti-led," although the government is barely functioning and its record was checkered even before the earthquake killed more than 110,000 people and leveled an array of government ministries.
Louis Lucke, the senior U.S. Agency for International Development official in Haiti, stood in an American-run medical complex Saturday with President René Préval and told reporters that "the Haitians are leading the process in all the areas that are necessary" -- including food distribution, despite strong evidence to the contrary.
Sgt. 1st Class Jason Jacot, an Army engineer, drove to a critical power station in the Delmas neighborhood Sunday morning to assess repairs made by Haitian and Dominican workers.
Markestre Theolien, a supervisor with Haiti Electricity, the national utility, lamented the condition of the 27-year-old transformers and asked for new ones. Asked where the help should come from, he smiled and said, "
"So they're expecting us to take over?" Jacot asked a translator. "No, no, no. How can we assist without completely rebuilding? We're not here to rebuild."
The discussion went back and forth cordially. Jacot said he would be talking with the utility's director to learn what was needed. Theolien defined his bottom line: "What we really want is the
U.S. soldiers, whose numbers within Haiti have risen to 6,500, played a central role in Sunday's food distributions, working alongside U.N. peacekeepers to prevent the pushing, shoving and occasional melees that have severely hampered deliveries. Where
By day's end, the U.N. World Food Program calculated that roughly 400 metric tons of rice had been delivered to nine sites. Five more locations will be running early in the week, a spokesman said, but increased gang violence in the Cité Soleil slums made deliveries too risky.
The generally smooth deliveries on Sunday, based on a new system of ration cards, were met with pleasure at the Place du Canape Vert, an impromptu settlement where several hundred families received large sacks marked "Product of USA" or "USA Best Rice." Yet some asked when there would be something more than rice, while others wanted to know why they were left out.
Deliveries will resume Monday as the World Food Program, bolstered by an $80 million
At the ramshackle encampment, some residents were boiling water for rice within an hour of the delivery. Some had beans or root vegetables to add, and a few had meat. Those who could afford neither complained that rice alone would not be enough.
"It's there, but we can do nothing with it. We only got rice. No oil, nothing. And it's not easy to find water," said Flore Laurent, who is eight months pregnant. But she had nothing but praise for the role of the American soldiers. "I vote for the help of the
A throng of people in the square discussed their lack of faith in Haitian authorities. One after another, they said their only hope is the
"The Haitian government has been here for a while, and they give us nothing. The
Give a man a fish, and he’ll bring his whole country over to eat all your fish.
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