ARTICLE - CHOLERA VIOLENCE

HAITI'S PRESIDENT WARNS CHOLERA VIOLENCE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED
(Guardian.co.uk) - By Mark Trann and agencies

René Préval's intervention comes after demonstrators turned on UN peacekeepers, accusing them of being source of epidemic

Haiti'ss president, René Préval, has warned that violence will not be tolerated after demonstrators turned on UN peacekeepers as Haitians blamed Nepalese troopsfor being the source of the current cholera outbreak.

"Those who are creating the violence, who are looting warehouses, who are destroying other citizen's wealth, you should be reminded that no serious government will tolerate the state of disorder you are creating," Préval said in a statement. "The food you are pillaging so that you can do your own business belongs to schoolchildren, sick people in hospitals, the poor."

The president sought to restore calm after two days of demonstrations in Cap-Haitien, the country's second largest city. Protesters erected barricades of burning tyres and threw stones and bottles at UN peacekeepers. At least two demonstrators have died, one of them shot by a member of the UN force, which has been in Haiti since 2004.

During a second day of rioting yesterday, local reporters said a police station was set on fire in Cap-Haitien and stones were thrown at UN bases. A UN world food programme warehouse was looted and set ablaze.

The UN cancelled flights carrying three tonnes of soap along with other medical supplies and personnel to Cap-Haitien. Oxfam suspended water chlorination projects and the World Health Organisation halted the training of medical staff. There are fears that unrest could spread to the capital, Port-au-Prince, which was devastated by January's earthquake.

Préval said news that Cap-Haitien and Hinche, a town in central Haiti, had erupted in violent protest, as the country was dealing with the cholera epidemic and the aftermath of the quake, made his "heart ache".

"While cholera is attacking us, it's not the moment for us to be fighting," he said. "Cholera is already killing people. But the chaos you are creating will kill more people."

The cholera outbreak has continued to spread across Haiti and further afield. Authorities in the neighbouring Dominican Republic reported its first confirmed case in Higuey, near the popular tourist destination Punta Cana. The man was a Haitian citizen who had recently returned from a 12-day holiday in Haiti.

The epidemic has killed at least 1,000 Haitians and thousands more are in hospital with severe diarrhoea and vomiting.

Haitians believe that Nepalese troops at a UN base beside the Artibonite river were the source of outbreak, which began last month. Suspicion that UN troops brought cholera to Haiti has come on top of long-standing resentment of the 12,000-member mission.

UN officials deny responsibility and say the protests were politically motivated to affect or disrupt national elections scheduled for 28 November.

Health experts have called for an independent investigation into whether Nepalese peacekeepers introduced the south Asian strain of cholera to Haiti. The soldiers arrived there in October following outbreaks in their home country and about a week before Haiti's epidemic was discovered.