Locals speak of calm in Haiti

Several sources in different cities throughout the cholera-ravaged country have spoken of a welcome scaling down of protests against United Nations troops.

Many Haitians believe that the UN’s Nepalese soldiers are responsible for bringing the disease, which has now killed more than 1,000 people and infected a reported 16,000 plus.

Pierre Richard, a cameraman in the northern city of Cap-Haitien, which has seen several deaths in days of violent clashes with UN forces, told Channel 4 News that the chaos had appeared to have subsided.

“Last night, there was not really much violence, the people were not fighting, there was calm.

“This morning, too, the city seems quieter, more serene.

“Everyone I speak to says they pray for this to continue.”

On Monday, demonstrators said UN forces shot several people and at least two people died.

It is not violent like a few days ago, I think the people do not want any more death. Taxi-driver Rene Foucault

But by yesterday, protests in Haiti’s second-largest city, Cap-Haitien, were markedly calmer, despite protesters continuing to throw rocks at police trying to remove them.

Gonvaives, too, was less agitated, according to Rene Foucault, a taxi driver in the northern city.

“The mood here is, of course, terrible, because of the disease, the hunger; the people are scared of everything.

“But it is not violent like a few days ago, I think the people do not want any more death,” he said.

Appeal for calm

On Tuesday, President Rene Preval appealed for calm, amid fears that the unrest would spread to the capital Port-au-Prince ahead of the 28 November presidential elections.

The current calm has come as a welcome relief to aid workers, who said the rioting has interfered with efforts to combat the cholera outbreak.

Meanwhile, the UN has again denied that the cholera outbreak originated from its troops.

The refutation came after Sweden’s ambassador to Haiti said that he had been told that the cholera strain had been traced to Nepal.

On 1 November, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said the cholera strain linked to the outbreak is “most similar” to cholera strains found in South Asia. A Swedish newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet, yesterday published the comments by Claes Hammar, Sweden’s ambassador to Haiti.

Mr Hammar said the information came from “a diplomatic source. It is 100 per cent true. Tests were made and the source was traced to Nepal.

“Unfortunately that is the case. It has proved that the cholera came from Nepal.”

But a UN spokesman told Channel 4 News: “It is completely untrue.

“Its origin has yet to be determined, so I don’t know where these comments come from.”

The Florida Department of Health yesterday confirmed that a woman who had recently visited Haiti tested positive for cholera, but has since recovered.

The department said other suspected cases of cholera were under investigation in Florida, where there is a large Haitian community, but it said the disease was unlikely to spread because of better sanitation standards in the US.

A Haitian man with cholera was also hospitalised in the eastern Dominican Republic, near the tourist centres of Punta Cana and Bavaro.