Violence has again recently struck Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
It started last Friday in Les Cayes, one of the country's more touristic spots and since yesterday in Port-au-Prince. Today, the streets of Les Cayes and Port-au-Prince have been littered with burned tyres and other barricades. Vehicles parked on the road side have been smashed. Petrol stations along the main streets have been ransacked and vandalised.
The people have been clamouring against "la vie chère"or the very high cost of living. Eighty percent of the 8.7 million Haitians live in poverty and 54 percent live in abject poverty, according to the CIA's World Factbook.
Certain analysts have suggested that the demonstrations resulted mainly from the lack of response from the government concerning this widespread problem. This stance has been taken by the country's business community. The Haiti Chamber of Commerce has reiterated today that it was unfortunate that the government has not acted upon the business community's recommendations on tackling poverty even two years ago when the current Presidency first took over the reins of power.
Fanmi Lavalas, the political party of ex-President Aristide, having been accused of inciting the riots has publicly rebutted this allegation and strongly stated that it is advocating peaceful demonstrations as it is the right of the people to make their voice heard.
There have also been widespread speculations that certain powerful groups involved in narco-trafficking may be behind these riots and that they have even been paying up throngs of people to go amock.
The turn of events has exacerbated the already dire situation in this country. The vaccination supplies to be delivered from Port-au-Prince to the southern regions of Les Cayes, Jeremie, Miragoane and Jacmel have been immediately put on hold until further notice.
Already under severe time pressure, the prepation for the senatorial elections, earlier slated for May 2008 will now have to be further postponed up until August or September.
Whilst the Prime Minister has, over the weekend, denounced these acts of violence and announced the immediate release of more than USD10 million to put in place measures to alleviate hunger and the very high cost of living, there remains much cynicism amongst the population and, certainly, in the opposition camp, on the capacity and the willingness of the government to really live up to its promise.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has relaunched its appeal to the international community for money to support its emegency food distribution programme in Haiti. The rest of the international agencies, however, have yet to react to this current crisis. Whilst MINUSTAH (the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti) has been mandated mainly to maintain security in the country, the other international actors need to certainly react immediately to this current crisis.
According to the WFP, civil unrest as a result of price hikes in food and fuel have recently also occurred in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal.
The people have been clamouring against "la vie chère"or the very high cost of living. Eighty percent of the 8.7 million Haitians live in poverty and 54 percent live in abject poverty, according to the CIA's World Factbook.
Certain analysts have suggested that the demonstrations resulted mainly from the lack of response from the government concerning this widespread problem. This stance has been taken by the country's business community. The Haiti Chamber of Commerce has reiterated today that it was unfortunate that the government has not acted upon the business community's recommendations on tackling poverty even two years ago when the current Presidency first took over the reins of power.
Fanmi Lavalas, the political party of ex-President Aristide, having been accused of inciting the riots has publicly rebutted this allegation and strongly stated that it is advocating peaceful demonstrations as it is the right of the people to make their voice heard.
There have also been widespread speculations that certain powerful groups involved in narco-trafficking may be behind these riots and that they have even been paying up throngs of people to go amock.
The turn of events has exacerbated the already dire situation in this country. The vaccination supplies to be delivered from Port-au-Prince to the southern regions of Les Cayes, Jeremie, Miragoane and Jacmel have been immediately put on hold until further notice.
Already under severe time pressure, the prepation for the senatorial elections, earlier slated for May 2008 will now have to be further postponed up until August or September.
Whilst the Prime Minister has, over the weekend, denounced these acts of violence and announced the immediate release of more than USD10 million to put in place measures to alleviate hunger and the very high cost of living, there remains much cynicism amongst the population and, certainly, in the opposition camp, on the capacity and the willingness of the government to really live up to its promise.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has relaunched its appeal to the international community for money to support its emegency food distribution programme in Haiti. The rest of the international agencies, however, have yet to react to this current crisis. Whilst MINUSTAH (the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti) has been mandated mainly to maintain security in the country, the other international actors need to certainly react immediately to this current crisis.
According to the WFP, civil unrest as a result of price hikes in food and fuel have recently also occurred in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal.
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