(upi.com)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Haiti's presidential election Sunday was so chaotic 12 of the 19 candidates held a news conference to demand it be canceled.
Voters were upset, too. They shut down some polling places and cascaded into the streets to make their frustrations known, throwing rocks and bottles at United Nations peacekeeping troops, The Christian Science Monitor reported.
The dozen presidential hopefuls at the news conference accused the Inite party, backed by President Rene Preval, of trying to rig the election, the online U.S. newspaper said. Among them was Michel Martelly, a musician considered a top contender in the race who was accompanied by rapper Wyclef Jean, said the media event was held "to denounce today's massive fraud all over the country."
The country's electoral commission held its own news conference, urging calm and reassuring people the vote was on track, the Monitor said.
"There are places where bandits shut down polls, shots were fired and stones were thrown," Pierre Opont, the election commission's director general, said. "But it is only a small percentage of the polling areas and it won't stop us from voting and getting a valid result."
Haiti's voters faced confusion, delays and rejection at the polls, observers reported. Many found their names missing from voter lists, and illiterate voters had no one to help them find their names, The Miami Herald reported.
Abner Jean, who could not cast a ballot despite holding a valid registration card because his name wasn't on election rolls.
"We are not going to stand for an election that is not the will of the people," Jean told the Monitor. "If they put in a candidate that we did not choose, we'll use whatever means necessary to kick them out."
Polls were to open at 6 a.m., but people were kept waiting for hours as election workers set up.
The BBC said its correspondents saw only a trickle of voters at the polls in the early hours of the first election since January's massive earthquake killed 230,000 people and caused widespread devastation.
"There are more than 5,000 people here and the [electoral commission] sent us less than 40 names. We don't have enough ballots," Elizer Fritznel, a polling place supervisor, told the Monitor.
Observers said Haitians expressed cynicism about the election.
"We have nothing to eat and no place to live, we are so thin that even the air that blows can lift us, from where do we get the strength to go out and vote?" one woman told the BBC.
The large slate of candidates means a runoff could be necessary Jan. 16.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Tomas strengthens into hurricane
(CBC News)
Tomas has been upgraded to hurricane status as it moves toward Haiti, where more than one million people are still living in temporary shelters and camps after January's powerful earthquake.
The hurricane has maximum sustained winds of 130 km/h and some additional strengthening is expected, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said early Friday morning.
Tomas was about 280 kilometres west of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, where heavy rain was falling.
"Storm surge and winds will be a concern for the warned areas but rainfall is the major threat for Haiti," said CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe.
Heavy rain could cause flash floods or landslides on Haiti's unstable hillsides.
Authorities have urged the people living under tarps and in tents to seek safer shelter, but many of the displaced have said they have nowhere else to go.
The storm is expected to cross over Haiti's southwestern tip then swirl through the strait that divides Haiti from Cuba.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Haiti braces for tropical storm Tomas
(msnbc.msn.com)
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — At least 21 people were missing or dead after Tropical Storm Tomas swept over the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia as it headed toward Jamaica and the tent cities of Haiti.
An American tourist was reportedly among those killed.
Tomas weakened to a Tropical Depression early Wednesday, but was forecast to pick up strength over the next two days and a hurricane watch for Jamaica was issued by the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Haiti, the Dominican Republic and southeastern Cuba were also warned to monitor Tomas's progress with forecasters warned of a "significant threat" to those areas later this week.
At 5 a.m. ET, the storm was about 410 miles south-southwest of Haiti's Port-au-Prince and moving west-northwest at about 5 mph.
As Tomas churned over the open Caribbean sea, officials appealed to Haitians in tent camps to start evacuating, encouraging them to travel to the homes of family or friends.
"We have launched an appeal for voluntary evacuation, particularly in the camps," said Alta Jean-Baptiste, the director of the Haiti's Civil Protection Office. "We have plans to evacuate the camps but we won't be able to evacuate everybody."
Nadia Lochard, the coordinator for civil protection in Haiti's western department, said authorities were showing camp dwellers how to properly tie up their tents before evacuating.
She said even heavy rains in the country's southern region could potentially impact Port-au-Prince since several of Haiti's rivers originate in the area and extend to the capital.
In the tent camp of Corail-Cesselesse, managers held a "loudspeaker meeting" with megaphones to tell residents about the evacuation order, said Bryant Castro, the American Refugee Committee staffer managing the camp.
Residents were told to seek any home they could find and are expected to start leaving as soon as Wednesday.
Corail has already been affected by a storm which collapsed 344 tents and sent 1,700 people fleeing for new shelter.
The dangers have only become clearer since.
"I would say ... that insufficient analysis was done on exploring all the options before selecting the Corail site," said Castro, the camp's manager. "The Corail site is located on a flood plain, and hydrologically it's not a sound location."
Oxfam spokeswoman Julie Schindall said aid workers are concerned about delivering services to the camp if roads from Port-au-Prince flood.
"This goes back to the original thing: No, (Corail is) not a safe place to live," she said. "We knew a hurricane was going to come — this is Haiti, this always happens — and we have not had a level of reconstruction that gets people under tents into houses."
At this point there is little to be done before the storm.
Jonel Romelus, a 36-year-old mason who moved to Corail, said his family — his wife, two daughters ages 2 and 5, a sister and nephews — will stay in the camp unless the government can provide shelter. They have nowhere else to go.
"God will protect me. I'm not going to be the only one (staying at Corail). If something happens, we'll deal with it," he said. "If they could have moved more quickly and built more houses, it would have been safer."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — At least 21 people were missing or dead after Tropical Storm Tomas swept over the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia as it headed toward Jamaica and the tent cities of Haiti.
An American tourist was reportedly among those killed.
Tomas weakened to a Tropical Depression early Wednesday, but was forecast to pick up strength over the next two days and a hurricane watch for Jamaica was issued by the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Haiti, the Dominican Republic and southeastern Cuba were also warned to monitor Tomas's progress with forecasters warned of a "significant threat" to those areas later this week.
At 5 a.m. ET, the storm was about 410 miles south-southwest of Haiti's Port-au-Prince and moving west-northwest at about 5 mph.
As Tomas churned over the open Caribbean sea, officials appealed to Haitians in tent camps to start evacuating, encouraging them to travel to the homes of family or friends.
"We have launched an appeal for voluntary evacuation, particularly in the camps," said Alta Jean-Baptiste, the director of the Haiti's Civil Protection Office. "We have plans to evacuate the camps but we won't be able to evacuate everybody."
Nadia Lochard, the coordinator for civil protection in Haiti's western department, said authorities were showing camp dwellers how to properly tie up their tents before evacuating.
She said even heavy rains in the country's southern region could potentially impact Port-au-Prince since several of Haiti's rivers originate in the area and extend to the capital.
In the tent camp of Corail-Cesselesse, managers held a "loudspeaker meeting" with megaphones to tell residents about the evacuation order, said Bryant Castro, the American Refugee Committee staffer managing the camp.
Residents were told to seek any home they could find and are expected to start leaving as soon as Wednesday.
Corail has already been affected by a storm which collapsed 344 tents and sent 1,700 people fleeing for new shelter.
The dangers have only become clearer since.
"I would say ... that insufficient analysis was done on exploring all the options before selecting the Corail site," said Castro, the camp's manager. "The Corail site is located on a flood plain, and hydrologically it's not a sound location."
Oxfam spokeswoman Julie Schindall said aid workers are concerned about delivering services to the camp if roads from Port-au-Prince flood.
"This goes back to the original thing: No, (Corail is) not a safe place to live," she said. "We knew a hurricane was going to come — this is Haiti, this always happens — and we have not had a level of reconstruction that gets people under tents into houses."
At this point there is little to be done before the storm.
Jonel Romelus, a 36-year-old mason who moved to Corail, said his family — his wife, two daughters ages 2 and 5, a sister and nephews — will stay in the camp unless the government can provide shelter. They have nowhere else to go.
"God will protect me. I'm not going to be the only one (staying at Corail). If something happens, we'll deal with it," he said. "If they could have moved more quickly and built more houses, it would have been safer."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.
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