UN Council to agree to deploy more troops, police to Haiti - Summary

New York - The UN Security Council planned to approve quickly a request for additional military troops and police to bolster the UN mission in Haiti, which has assumed a leading role in the relief of earthquake survivors, diplomats said Monday. The 15-nation council may adopt a resolution as early as Tuesday in response to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's request for 2,000 more military troops and 1,500 police to be deployed in Haiti to provide security and assist in the massive relief operation there.

The UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) currently has about 7,000 troops and 2,000 international police. The mission also employed about 3,000 other civilian personnel and Haitians.

The ambassadors of France and the United States confirmed the council was preparing a new resolution that would also strengthen MINUSTAH's mandate.

French UN Ambassador Gerard Araud said the increasing foreign military presence in Haiti is aimed at supporting the government of President Rene Preval and not to supplant it because Port-au-Prince has been weakened by the massive destruction and the government cabinet has suffered heavy losses in personnel.

"Our job is not to take over (the government), but to support it," said Araud, whose government in Paris is planning an international conference in Montreal for the reconstruction of Haiti.

Araud said French President Nicolas Sarkozy had been discussing the conference with Washington and Toronto.

"We are cooperating with a sovereign country," Araud said. He said the European Union's foreign ministers, who met in Brussels on Monday, had decided to send more police to Haiti and pledged some 575 million dollars in aid.

US Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said several countries have already offered military troops and police, but details about troops contribution were being handle by the UN peacekeeping department.

John Holmes, the top UN humanitarian coordinator, who visited Port-au-Prince on Sunday with Ban, said the request for additional troops and police is aimed at filling the gap when MINUSTAH will be required to shift its current staff around in Haiti. There already 3,000 UN peacekeepers in Port-au-Prince for security and to assist the relief operation.

"It's not just a matter of shortage (of personnel)," Holmes said. "It's a question of precaution to ensure that we will have what we need in the medium term as well."

Holmes said the relief operation in Port-au-Prince has scaled up tremendously this past weekend with the World Food Program having distributed ready-to-eat food rations for seven days to 73,000 Haitians.

He said more food supplies and other relief materials were coming to the capital as the airport was functioning better with the help of the United States. UN diplomats said the airport can now handle 100 flights a day on Sunday, compared to 60 on Saturday.

Holmes said the distribution of relief supplies will rely entirely on land transport, which meant that Haiti would need more trucks and that more roads will have to be cleared of debris from collapsed buildings. Holmes pointed out that fuel supply remained a problem and that the Dominican Republic has facilitated the trucking of relief supplies through its territory to Haiti.

Ban told reporters at UN headquarters in New York after returning from Sunday's visit to Haiti that the humanitarian conditions and demands there are the largest in decades for the international community.

"The Haitian people need to know that today is better than yesterday and this year better than last year," Ban said.

Ban visited Port-au-Prince on Sunday for a first-hand look at the destruction in the Haitian capital where tens of thousands of people may have died in the magnitude-7 earthquake.

"I went to Haiti with a very heavy heart," Ban said, admitting that he had mixed feelings because of the atmosphere of deep desperation and the elation whenever a survivor was retrieved from the rubble.

He said the UN suffered its biggest-ever loss in personnel in Haiti. The chief of MINUSTAH Hedi Annabi, his deputy Luiz Carlos da Costa and the acting police chief Doug Coates were killed in the main UN compound that collapsed on Tuesday.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky confirmed 46 UN staff have been killed and over 500 still unaccounted for. The high number of unaccounted included also locally hired people who may be with families and have not reported to work since the quake struck.

"I was sadden by what I saw and yet I saw the faces of the Haitians, who were calm and patient," Ban said. He said the UN does not know how many UN staff remain buried in the rubble.

But Nesirky said it appeared that the telephone network has been working again, which would facilitate communication among UN offices and personnel.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304484,un-council-to-agree-to-deploy-more-troops-police-to.html.

Mali go out despite win as Algeria and Angola draw - Summary

Cabinda, Angola (Earth Times - dpa) - A 3-1 victory in their final Group A game at the Africa Cup of Nations over Malawi in Cabinda was not enough Monday to see Mali through to the quarter-finals of the competition, as Angola and Algeria played to a goalless draw in the other group game, played in Luanda. Mali scored twice in the opening three minutes through Fredi Kanoute and Seydou Keita and then added a third late in the game through Mamadou Bagayoko, while Russel Mwafulirwa pulled one back for the southern African country midway through the second half.

Angola finish top of the group on five points. Algeria end up on four points, level with Mali, but progress thanks to their better head-to-head record, courtesy of a 1-0 victory over the Eagles last Thursday.

Mali had a dream start in their quest to get the victory they needed to maintain their hopes of advancing to the next round.

Malawi goalkeeper Swadick Sanudi gifted the West Africans the opening goal after just 37 seconds when his poor clearance found Sevilla striker Kanoute, whose shot from all of 30 meters gave Mali the lead.

In the third minute, Keita added a second with another long-range effort. It was the third goal of the tournament for the Barcelona midfielder.

Not surprisingly, the start shocked the Malawians, who had stunned World Cup finalists Algeria 3-0 in their opening game, and it took them some time to get into the game.

They started getting more of the game midway through the first half, but were not rewarded with any real chances.

Instead, it was Mali who nearly grabbed a third when Mamadou Bagayoko headed just wide from Momo Sissoko's cross.

Malawi came close to pulling one back a minute after the restart when Mahamadou Sidibe was forced into a diving save from one of his own defenders.

They were finally rewarded for their efforts in the 58th minute when Mwafulirwa scored after a goalmouth scramble. The Swedish-based striker should have leveled matters shortly afterwards, but his downward header after a cross from Joseph Kamwendo bounced over the crossbar.

As Malawi had to throw more men forward in search of an equalizer that would have taken them through, Mali made the most of the space they had and Bagayoko scored a third five minutes from the end.

In Luanda, meanwhile, the host nation knew a point would suffice no matter what the result of the other game, which was being played at the same time.

Angola, who were missing top striker Flavio, who had been ruled out through injury, carved out some early opportunities, but then withdrew into their shell as the game drew to its logical conclusion.

In a disappointing first half, Algeria had the first clear-cut chance after 21 minutes when Nadir Belhadj's free-kick found its way to Madjid Bougherra six metres out but Angola goalkeeper Carlos did well to block the defender's shot.

Five minutes later, Ze Kalanga tested Faouzi Chaouchi at the other end with a long-range free-kick while former Manchester United striker Manucho also tried his luck from distance on 31 minutes but the Algerian goalkeeper was once again up to the task.

Both teams were obviously aware of the situation in Cabinda as attacking opportunities dried up totally in the second half although Chaouchi, who was the hero in Algeria's victory over Egypt in a World Cup play-off, almost let a late Jamuana free-kick squirm between his legs.

Angola have been rewarded with a quarter-final in Luanda against the second-placed team in Group B for winning the group, while Algeria will take on the winner of Group B in Cabinda.

Ivory Coast have already qualified from the group while Ghana need to beat Burkina Faso in their final match Tuesday if their are to make it to the knockout stages.

Chile's president-elect meets Bachelet to discuss power transfer

Santiago - Chilean President Michelle Bachelet met with president-elect Sebastian Pinera on Monday, to discuss a historic power transfer scheduled for March 11. Conservative billionaire Pinera won Sunday's presidential election run-off with 51.6 per cent of the votes.

His inauguration is set to take power off the hands of the center- left coalition that has led Chile since the return of democracy in 1990. It is also the first time that the right has risen to power by democratic means in Chile since 1958.

Pinera and Socialist Bachelet had breakfast together Monday at the president-elect's home in an affluent neighborhood in eastern Santiago. The meeting ended without comment from either participant.

Later, Bachelet played down the dramatism of the power transfer.

"It is a cause for pride that this government is going to hand over a healthy country. I visited Sebastian Pinera and I told him that we would govern until the last day, without rest," she stressed.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/304492,chiles-president-elect-meets-bachelet-to-discuss-power-transfer.html.

Iraqis authorize government to sue Blackwater

BAGHDAD – Iraq's government has started collecting signatures for a class-action lawsuit from victims who were wounded or lost family in incidents involving the U.S. private security firm formerly known as Blackwater.

The head of the prime minister's legal consultation office said Monday the government will seek compensation for a string of incidents, including the 2007 killing of 17 civilians in Nisoor Square.

The official, Fadhil Mohammed Jawad, says there is no deadline to receive the authorizations. He refused to give a date for the lawsuit.

On Dec. 31, a U.S. federal judge threw out criminal charges against the company, now known as Xe Services, regarding the Nisoor Square killings, citing mistakes by prosecutors.

Somalia: Harakat Al-Shabab Mujahideen Hails Islamists' Demonstration in Nairobi

17 January 2010

Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen officials have Sunday held a press conference in the Somali capital Mogadishu. They hailed the demonstrations organized by the Islamists in Kenya and against a cleric's detention in Kenya, just a day after the Kenyan government said that Al-shabab was involved the riot.

Sheik Ali Mohamud Raghe (Sheik Ali Dere), the spokesman of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen, talked about more different sides in the press conference, saying that they greatly welcomed the protest that happened in Kenya on Friday. He added that it was organized by the Muslims in Kenya, who were infuriated by the arrest of Jamaican Muslim who was jailed in Nairobi recently.

The spokesman denied the involvement in the demonstration that happened around Jamia mosque in Nairobi last Friday, reiterating that it was prepared by Muslims in Kenya as they aggravated -what he called- brutal actions against the Muslim cleric from Jamaica, who was jailed in Nairobi as he was exiled from Britain.

"We welcome and welcome the feelings of the Muslims in Kenya who got angry the arrest of their brother who was aggressively detained by the troops of Kenya. We are very sorry for brutal actions against the Muslim people in that country. It is baseless propaganda the statement of Kenyan government that Al-shabab involved the demonstration," said Sheik Ali Dere.

Asked about the statement of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen on Kenya might show involving that country, the spokesman replied that Al-shabab was not planning to intervene in Kenya, adding that the reports saying they were intervening in Kenya seemed to allowing away to be killed Muslims in that country.

The spokesman of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen also talked more on the Transitional Federal government and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland saying that the TFG made military movement and gathered more teenagers who were planned to assault the positions under the control of the rivals in the capital.

He also said that the people of Puntland administration were good and honest people but any violence in the region was masterminded by the officials of their administration.

Nevertheless the statement of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen comes as there had been insecurity situations and planned killings in the semi autonomous region of Puntland.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/201001180369.html.

Trade Deal With Somalia to Help Rebuild, Clothe Ailing Nation

Irvan Tisnabudi

Indonesia signed a trade agreement with Somalia on Monday in a bid to boost its ailing textiles industry and help kick-start economic development in the war-torn East African nation.

Somalia is one of Indonesia’s smallest trading partners and commerce between the two nations slumped last year to a mere $3.1 million, from $8 million in 2008, due to the global slowdown.

“This year, we can rebound back to the level of $ 8 million, as the direct trading will contribute to this,” Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said at the signing ceremony in Jakarta.

In the past, most trade with Somalia has been routed via Dubai because of security concerns related to the ongoing civil war in Somalia and rampant piracy in its coastal waters.

The new agreement, which will focus on textiles and construction, will facilitate direct trade between Indonesia and Somalia, cutting costs for exporters and making it easier for Indonesia to penetrate other East African markets, Mari said.

“We will import raw materials for our textile industry, such as cotton, from Somalia with a zero percent tariff rate, which then will be used to produce finished products here that will be exported back at a zero percent tariff rate to Somalia,” she said.

Mohamud Olow Barrow, the Somali ambassador to Indonesia, said there was high demand for Indonesian-made textile products in his homeland.

“Even though Somalia’s population is only 9.8 million, the total number of Indonesian sarongs being exported to Somalia through Dubai is 20 million pieces per year,” Barrow said.

Abdirashid Mohamed Abdi, the Somali trade minister, said his country would look to Indonesian construction companies to help it reconstruct buildings that have been destroyed during the long years of internal conflict and political instability.

“With many of our construction experts working abroad due to the instabilities that our country has been experiencing, we will require support from Indonesia, which is why for construction materials that Indonesian exports will be given a zero percent tariff rate,” Abdi said.

Juniman, an economist at PT Bank Internasional Indonesia, praised the government for its efforts to penetrate East Africa, where trade has been blighted by numerous local conflicts.

“Because of this reason, most of our trade in those [conflict] countries has been done through Dubai first, because the markets are difficult to penetrate,” Juniman said.

This results in slightly higher costs for exporters because they have to retain the services of a trade broker, he explained.

However, Juniman warned that direct trade would bring additional risks for exporters.

“Countries like Somalia possess a threat for our exporters because of their safety issues, especially if goods are sent by sea, with their pirates. There are always risks involved when exporting to countries of this nature and I hope both governments will prevent them,” he said.

Source: Jakarta Globe.
Link: http://thejakartaglobe.com/business/trade-deal-with-somalia-to-help-rebuild-clothe-ailing-nation/353437.

Canadian aid to Haiti to focus on reconstruction

By Jorge Barrera, Juliet O'Neill and Mark Iype, Canwest News Service

PORT-AU-PRINCE — As international aid workers in Haiti struggle to get food and medical assistance to the survivors of last Tuesday's devastating earthquake in a climate of widespread looting and absent infrastructure, governments have ramped up their commitments to rebuilding the country.

Tens of thousands of survivors — many of them injured, hungry and thirsty — continued to crowd makeshift camps on streets strewn with debris and decomposing bodies as more foreign troops and aid workers arrived Monday.

In an effort to deal with the crumbled infrastructure, the Canadian military announced Monday that DART — Disaster Assistance Response Team — would be increasing its capabilities in Haiti by building full field hospitals and concentrating on infrastructure reconstruction. The team will focus also on rebuilding communication systems, which will help get aid to the survivors.

The military will base a big part of its relief operations in Jacmel, a southern coastal city where Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean spent her summers as a girl.

The Canadians plan to deploy in a 40-kilometre north-south corridor between Jacmel and Leogane, which is about 20 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince.

Both coastal communities were devastated by the earthquake and "Jacmel is cut (off) from the world," Canadian ambassador Gilles Rivard told reporters in Port-au-Prince.

Canadians plan to deliver medical aid, water purification and security, and work to allow aid delivery, such as road-clearing, bridge repair and fortification of collapsed buildings.

An aid organization reported Monday the trip south from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel — which normally takes about 2 1/2-hours — now takes more than seven hours due to road obstructions. Because of a lack of medical resources in the area, people who lost limbs in the earthquake are suffering from gangrene.

Some DART doctors and medics were already on hand in Jacmel on Monday, treating Haitians as best they could.

They treated patients under tarps outside a local hospital that was damaged by the earthquake.

"The have no surgery capability right now and that is the major problem," said Maj. Annie Bouchard, DART medical platoon commander. "Their anesthesia machine is broken and they have no supplies."

Bouchard said half of the 64 patients needed surgery to "either save their limb or save their life."

Canada's military efforts will be anchored by two navy vessels with 500 personnel arriving Tuesday — the HMCS Athabaskan offshore Leogane and the HMCS Halifax offshore Jacmel.

The plan emerged Monday when Rivard and Brig.-Gen. Guy Laroche, commander of Canadian Forces in Haiti, spoke to reporters — and later when Gen. Walt Natynczyk, chief of the defence staff, and Defence Minister Peter MacKay made a flying visit to CFB Valcartier to personally thank the 1,000 soldiers heading to Haiti this week.

"We understand about 90 per cent of the destruction was in the town of Leogane, extending to the southern coast to Jacmel," Natynczyk said. "These two towns form the north-south orientation of the area that the UN has asked us to focus on."

The death toll in the country continues to climb. Some reports have said as many as 200,000 people died in the 7.0 magnitude quake, with another three million left hurt or homeless. AFP_reported Tuesday that 70,000 people had been buried.

Many who have survived are looking for a way out of Haiti and into Canada.

At the Canadian Embassy in Port-au-Prince, a safe haven for citizens, Canadian soldiers shouted, "You have to move back," and "Push, push" as a crowd of about 200 Haitians — some without Canadian citizenship or identification papers — clamoured at the gates to be taken out of the earthquake-shattered city, where food and water is still in short supply and the stench of death grows stronger by the day.

Many had been given false hopes by Haitian radio reports that the Canadian Embassy was giving out visas. Some slept at the embassy gate, others arrived at dawn — having walked hours to get there on the belief that somehow Canada would take them in.

Those who had Canadian passports waved them in the air. One woman brandished divorce papers from a Quebec court and another man pulled out his expired visitor's visa.

Cars and trucks rumbling along the road in front of the embassy honked and swerved as the crowd ebbed and flowed around the embassy gate.

Paulidor Cazeau, 37, began walking at 3 a.m. on Monday, arriving at the embassy at 5 a.m. with his wife and two children, a seven-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl.

"Now we come here if the government of Canada can help people go to Canada," he said. "I have nothing else. My house, everything I had, just passed away, finished."

Cazeau is not a Canadian citizen and did not have a Canadian passport.

Jean Sanon Descartes, 68, says he has two children in Canada. He unzips a pouch and pulls out his Haitian passport which has an expired Canadian visa.

"My family sent papers to get me out," he said.

Some of those waiting outside the embassy complained that the soldiers only spoke English and they couldn't understand their shouted orders.

Philomise Brutus, 54, held aloft her Quebec health insurance card and her permanent residence card. She arrived in Haiti on Dec. 5 from Montreal and is now trying to bring four family members, aged 35, 22, 16, and 18, into Canada.

"We have no food, no water and I sleep in a park," said Brutus, who spent the night on the sidewalk in front of the embassy. "I feel so sad."

In response to the growing humanitarian crisis, the Canadian government announced Saturday that it is fast-tracking immigration applications and prioritizing Haitian adoptions to reunite families in Canada.

It will expedite an estimated 5,000 immigration applications to reunite families in Canada with relatives "directly and significantly affected by the earthquake in Haiti."

How quickly newcomers can be processed and travel to Canada remains open to question, however, due to communication and transportation problems in the earthquake zone.

There is no plan to airlift them to Canada.

One hopeful sign in Haiti has been the recent re-emergence of street vendors selling fruit and vegetables. They're taking their chances with gangs of looters said to be prowling the demolished streets of downtown Port-au-Prince, filching goods from destroyed shops with little opposition from overstretched police.

"We do not have the capacity to fix this situation. Haiti needs help," policeman Dorsainvil Robenson told Reuters, as he chased looters.

At a news conference earlier Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said police protection for the people of Haiti is a priority.

He said Canada would work with the United Nations stabilization mission in Haiti to ensure the safety of civilians until the Haitian national police is able to handle the immense task.

More than 2,200 U.S. marines with heavy earth-moving equipment, medical aid and helicopters were arriving Monday, reported the U.S. Southern Command, which aims to have 10,000 U.S. troops in the area for rescue operations.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, meantime, participated in a radio talk show to help raise donations for Haiti relief.

He spoke of frustration over bottlenecks and delays in international aid delivery, "notwithstanding the incredible heartbreak, the incredible need we see at the other end."

Earlier, Harper spoke with Haitian President Rene Preval about Canada's "unwavering commitment" to Haiti. Due to technical difficulties, Preval took Harper's call on Canadian Minister of State Peter Kent's cellphone. The two were at a meeting in the Dominican Republic.

Cannon said since last Tuesday's quake, 947 Canadians have been evacuated from Haiti, up from 593 on Sunday.

Among the rescued Canadians was a group of 17 B.C. high school students and their chaperones that had been stranded in a remote town outside Port-au-Prince. The student group had gone to Haiti to help set up a goat farm and arrived a mere 45 minutes before the earthquake struck.

The entire group arrived back safely in Montreal early Monday morning on military transport planes.

Cannon said 850 Canadians remain missing.

"We still face a large number of challenges," he said from Ottawa. "We continue to do everything we can to locate all Canadians so they can rejoin families and friends here in Canada."

Of the roughly 6,000 Canadians in Haiti when the earthquake struck, 12 Canadians have been confirmed dead in the disaster.

Cannon said that next Monday, Canadian and other international officials will meet in Montreal to discuss the long-term goals for rebuilding the country.

Among those set to attend the Montreal meeting of the informal Friends of Haiti Group is Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. France and several Latin American nations also belong to the group.

"There is unanimity among all of the donor countries, among all of the friends of Haiti . . . to help Prime Minister (Jean-Max) Bellerive in his quest to build a new Haiti," Cannon said at Monday's news conference.

Canada has pledged $5 million dollars in immediate aid and the government said it will match any donations made by Canadians up to $50 million. On Monday, Quebec promised another $3 million in emergency relief.

The majority of Canada's Haitian population, nearly 100,000, lives in Quebec.

Source: Canada.
Link: http://www.canada.com/news/Canadian+Haiti+focus+reconstruction/2454871/story.html.