TROPICAL STORM EMILY - UPDATE

TROPICAL STORM EMILY ON PATH TOWARD HAITI
(AP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Tropical Storm Emily brushed past Puerto Rico and set its sights on the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where more than 630,000 people are still without shelter after last year's earthquake.

A "steady shield of rain" should reach the island of Hispaniola shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti around noon Wednesday and the rainfall should worsen by late afternoon, said John Dlugoenski, senior meteorologist with Accuweather.com.

"The biggest threat to lives is probably the flooding," Dlugoenski said.

Civil defense officials and the military in the Dominican Republic have already begun moving people out of high-risk zones ahead of the storm. Haitian authorities urged people to conserve food and safeguard their belongings.

In Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince, Jislaine Jean-Julien, a 37-year-old street merchant displaced by the January 2010 earthquake, said she was praying the storm would pass her flimsy tent without knocking it over.

"For now, God is the only savior for me," Jean-Julien said at the edge of a crowded encampment facing the quake-destroyed National Palace. "I would go some place else if I could but I have no place else to go."

Haitian emergency authorities set aside a fleet of 22 large white buses in the event they needed to evacuate people from flooded areas. Emergency workers would then bus the people to dozens of schools, churches and other buildings that will serve as shelters.

"We're working day and night to be able to respond quickly in case we have any disasters," said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of Haiti's Civil Protection Agency.

Risk of flash floods Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain could fall in some parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which could cause life-threatening flash floods and mud slides in areas of mountainous terrain.

Emergency workers, both Haitian and foreign, also sent out text messages to cell phone users, alerting them to the approaching storm and to take precautions such as staying with friends or relatives if that were an option.

Such advisories are not uncommon but few in Haiti have the means to heed them because of the crushing poverty.

"This is not the first time we've heard these messages," said Alexis Boucher, a 29-year-old man who lives in Place Boyer, a public square that became a camp after the earthquake. "We receive these messages and yet we still don't have anywhere to go."

A slow-moving storm that triggered mudslides and floods in Haiti killed at least 28 people in June.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Haiti notified its 11,500 troops to be on standby in case they need to respond, said Sylvie Van Den Wildenberg, a spokeswoman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies also, put emergency teams on standby, which have access to relief supplies already in place for up to 125,000 people in seaside towns throughout the country.

In the Dominican Republic's southern tourist districts, workers at hotels and restaurants gathered up umbrellas, tables, chairs, and anything else that might be blown away.

Capt. Frank Castillo, dock master of the Marina Casa de Campo in the southeastern tourist city of La Romana, and his crew helped boat owners secure their vessels in slips or pull them ashore.

Emergency shelters In Puerto Rico, there were no reports of major damage or injuries and no immediate demand for the nearly 400 schools that were converted into emergency shelters around the island.

Gov. Luis Fortuno had declared a state of emergency and most government offices were closed. Ahead of the storm, people cleared water and other emergency supplies from store shelves and tourists fled the small Puerto Rican islands of Culebra and Vieques.

But most of the island saw no more than sporadic gusts and showers.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm was heading west-northwest at 14 mph early Wednesday. The path would bring Emily's center over Hispaniola by Wednesday afternoon or Thursday. Both countries, but especially Haiti, are prone to devastating floods.

Early Wednesday, the storm was about 180 miles southeast of Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic. It had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the southeast Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. A tropical storm watch for the U.S. Virgin Islands was discontinued Wednesday.

TROPICAL STORM EMILY

Please pray for the island of Hispaniola. A tropical storm is headed our way and we may see the effects of Tropical Storm Emily starting Wednesday/ early Thursday. Pray for all those in the camps and who live in dangerous areas. That they may seek shelter if possible.
Karen

TROPICAL STORM EMILY BARRELS TOWARDS FRAGILE HAITI
(AFP) - By Clement Sabourin

Authorities in Haiti called Tuesday for evacuations as Tropical Storm Emily threatened a direct hit on the impoverished nation still struggling to recover from a devastating 2010 earthquake.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for Haiti as well as its neighbor on the island of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic, and for the US territory of Puerto Rico, the US National Hurricane Center said.

Haiti's weather service chief Ronald Semelfort said the storm could start pounding the country late Wednesday and that this "represents a great danger for the country still fragile from the January 2010 earthquake."

Tens of thousands of Haitians remain in camps without adequate shelter more than 18 months after the catastrophic quake, which left an estimated 225,000 people dead.

Alta Jean-Baptiste, head of Haiti's civil defense, said authorities were spreading the word and "are asking people in refugee camps... to evacuate vulnerable locations."

"We will review this evacuation strategy based on the probability of damage from the storm" the official added.

At 1500 GMT, Emily was some 270 miles (435 kilometers) southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, packing winds of 40 miles per hour, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center reported.

The storm was stationary but expected to resume its movement toward the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

"Emily has been meandering during the past several hours but the cyclone should resume a west-northwest motion at about 12 miles per hour later today," the hurricane center said.

Emily is currently forecast to drop between four and six inches of rain on Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic "with isolated maximum amounts of 10 inches possible," the NHC said.

"These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in areas of mountainous terrain," the NHC said.

The Dominican Republic declared an alert for portions of the country, called for mandatory evacuations in a dozen villages near dams and urged residents to take precautions in other areas.

"Residents in high-risk areas, who live next to rivers, streams and creeks... should take precautions and be aware of the recommendations of the relief agencies," the government's office of emergency services said.

A tropical storm warning was called off for the French island of Guadeloupe and nearby areas.

ARTICLE - RESIGNATIONS WITHIN THE GPR

SERIES OF RESIGNATIONS WITHIN THE GPR
(Haiti Libre) -

Deputy Emmanuel Fritz Gerald Bourjolly (Aquin - INITE), Recording Secretary of the Group of Parliamentarians for Renewal (GPR) resigned from the Bloc. A defection followed by several other parliamentarians. After this defection, the Deputy of Aquin said "I can tell you that the GPR is no longer a majority bloc..."

"...we decided in order to support the national interest as it should, to give our resignation of the group GPR [...] Personally I am one of the deputies who is taking a stand to support the projects of President Michel Joseph Martelly and also of the Prime Minister designate Mr. Bernard Honorat Gousse. There are many people in the GPR who want to support the projects of the President, it's not just me [...] you will see a lot of resignations of other deputies who are in the block [...] today I can tell you that the GPR is no longer a majority bloc [...]

It is a formal announcement, to the extent where letters of resignation were sent respectively to the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Sorel Jacinthe and also to Jean Tholbert Alexis, who acts as President of the bloc GPR [...] Today, I just delivered the letters to the Secretariats of the President and to the one of the Chamber of Deputies..."

While the GPR becomes fragile following the defections of several members of the deputation, the Senate Committee responsible for verifying the pieces of the Prime Minister-designate, Mr. Bernard Gousse promise to submit its report on Tuesday at the office of the Upper House. A chamber whose opposition to the candidacy of Mr. Gousse does not seem to show apparent signs of weakness.

If there are no defections from the G16 or changes in attitudes, the ratification of Mr. Gousse is doomed to failure. The majority acquired Monday by the Head of the State in the lower house will not be sufficient because the Constitution requires, a majority vote of both chambers for the ratification of the Prime Minister-designate.

ARTICLE - PARLIAMENTARIANS IMPLICATED

11 CURRENT PARLIAMENTARIANS IMPLICATED IN THE MISUSE OF PUBLIC FUNDS
(Defend Haiti) -

PORT-AU-PRINCE - In a report from the National Network for the Defense of Human rights (RNDDH), 11 deputies and 10 former members of the 48th Legislature have been accused of malfeasance .

The RNDDH reported that these Members of Parliament (MPs) were engaged as consultants to the Ministry of Interior and Local Authorities since October 1st 2010, the opening day of the fiscal year, in which they collected unwarranted funds. The human rights organization is calling for an end to waste and cronyism in government. The parliamentaries were noted by RNDDH as former members of the Coordination of Progressive Parliamentarians (CPP), who gave as their task to fight against corruption across the country.

"They all received a monthly salary estimated at one hundred thousand (100,000) gourds, with the exception of Rep. Richard Paul OLIVAR who received a salary of forty thousand two hundred fifty (40,250) gourds," said RNDDH, calling for an end to waste in government. The whole group showed up in the recent elections under the banner of the platform of the former President, René Préval and Senator Joseph Lambert. Twelve of them were re-elected.

The 22 consultants engaged by the Ministry of the Interior and Territorial Communities (MICT) are all members of the Platform Inite, the ruling party at the time. While these members were on the campaign trail, they were hired to provide services in various sectors within that department.

Offended and bruised, these MPs who now admit to having had MICT emoluments, promised to bring an action against the organization of human rights for libel.

The parliamentarians, Cavajal Pali, Rodon Antoine Bien-Aime, assert that the contract was terminated since they took office on April 25, while according to RNDDH, the deputies and senators continued to receive their salaries until June of this year.

The RNDDH calls the specialized agencies to engage in financial investigations, such as the Control Unit against Corruption (ULCC), the Central Financial Intelligence Unit (UCREF), Superior Court Accounts and Administrative Disputes (CSC / CA) and the General Inspectorate of Finance, to conduct investigations on these cases of corruption.

The Director of ULCC, Amos Durosier, was contacted by Le Matin, and did not comment because his institution is preparing an investigative report and he will comment afterwards.

RNDDH promises to continue working on the case, since other members are also involved in other ministries as consultants. Although MPs are very outraged by this report, they promised to investigate the sources of funding.

ARTICLE - HAITI COPS GUNMAN SEARCH

HAITI COPS SEARCH FOR MAN SEEN WITH GUN NEAR PRES
(AP) - By Trenton Daniel

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Police are searching for a man seen holding a rifle in a crowd as Haitian President Michel Martelly walked through a busy street in northern Haiti, a police official said Thursday.

Joany Caneus, police director for Haiti's northern region, said witnesses have told investigators that the gunman was standing among people watching Martelly pass by on foot Sunday in Haiti's second largest city, Cap-Haitien.

Caneus said the man planned to assassinate Martelly, but declined to say how he knew that. Saying the investigation was continuing, he would say only that witnesses reported the man was carrying either an M-1 or an M-14 rifle.

Inaugurated in May, Martelly showed up in Cap-Haitien on Sunday to promote tourism in the northern region. He unveiled plans for construction of a major road and extension of an airstrip at the city airport.

No shots were reported fired at him, but the visit turned unruly. Protesters lobbed rocks and soda bottles at the new leader and his entourage as they walked through a street near the airport.

Martelly's escorts tried to get him to climb into one of two slow-moving SUVs but he declined and kept walking. Police fired shots in the air to break up the crowd and people scrambled for cover.

Neither Martelly nor anyone else was injured.

Caneus said Thursday that police had arrested 32 people and brought them to the Haitian capital for questioning on the stoning.

Authorities haven't determined a specific motive behind the incident. But many Haitians are growing increasingly angry at politicians who don't quickly improve life in this nation burdened with poverty, natural disasters and disease — even if it is a president who has been in office for less than three months.

ARTICLE - LACK OF POWER BASE

HAITI'S NEW PRESIDENT LACKS POWER BASE, DISAPPOINTS VOTERS EAGER TO SEE LIVES IMPROVE
(Washington Post) - AP

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haitian President Michel Martelly has styled himself as a man of the people, a showy former pop star who waded easily into adoring crowds. So the reception he received on his latest trip to his country’s north was a surprise: Protesters pelted his entourage with soft drink bottles and rocks.

Martelly wasn’t injured during the unexpected protest Sunday in Cap Haitien, the country’s second-largest city, and police haven’t determined a precise motive for the ruckus.

But it is becoming increasingly apparent in a country overwhelmed by poverty, natural disasters, disease and decades of unfulfilled governmental promises that Haitians have little patience for politicians who don’t produce — even if it is a president who has been in office for less than three months.

“Martelly made a lot of promises — but so far nothing,” said Frantz Nelson, a 34-year-old who voted for the former singer. Nelson said he had hoped Martelly would help get him and his family out of an encampment across from the National Palace where they have lived since a massive earthquake struck the country in January 2010.

“We are impatient and our children are impatient.”

One of the keys to Martelly’s success in last November’s election was his outsider status, which attracted voters apparently tired of the traditional, educated elite who tend toward higher office in the Caribbean country.

He was a popular performer of a style of Haitian music known as compas, and was notorious for occasionally bawdy performances and foul-mouthed stage antics. Though he had been known to espouse political views, he came from a radically different mold than the country’s usual politicians. He ultimately won a race that at one point included a hand-picked successor to President Rene Preval and a former senator who was also a former first lady.

His dearth of experience is partly what constrains him now, however: He lacks much of a power base beyond his music fans, and relies heavily on a tight-knit team of close friends who are also new to government.

That he has failed to win over lawmakers to approve his choice for prime minister explains in part why he so far boasts of few accomplishments. He has almost no support in parliament, which flatly rejected his first pick for prime minister and appears ready to vote against his second choice as well.

Consequently, he has made little progress on promises to build homes for the hundreds of thousands left homeless by the earthquake as well as to create jobs in a country with an unemployment rate of more than 50 percent. Martelly has also done little to provide free education in a country where half of all children didn’t attend school even before the quake.

Martelly, aware of the growing signs of disenchantment, insists he’s still on track to achieve his lofty campaign pledges. “I promise to do this for the benefit of the masses and our citizens and create conditions for the recovery of our country,” he said at a meeting of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission earlier this month.

The president has made some attempts at progress: His administration launched a program that aims to put kids in school with fees collected from wire transfers and international phone calls, and presented a plan to relocate 30,000 people from six major earthquake encampments into repaired houses.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, the U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti, announced last week that his foundation would kick in $1.25 million to help raise school funding, but the new fees have angered Haitians overseas because it raised the cost of calling and sending money back home for a largely working-class community. The administration also drew criticism for evicting people from one of the earthquake encampments before creating housing elsewhere. Even if it were to succeed, Martelly’s relocation plan would help a mere 5 percent of the displaced population.

Mark Schneider of the U.S.-based think tank the International Crisis Group praised Martelly for the housing plan and for retaining the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, an international review panel that oversees earthquake reconstruction aid that some Haitians view with resentment. But he also said the new president needs to learn how to work across party lines.

“He needs to govern with a vision of national reconciliation and national reconstruction,” Schneider said. “That has to be his mantra.”

Martelly’s biggest apparent misstep so far has been his picks for prime minister.

His initial choice was rejected overwhelmingly by the Chamber of Deputies. They accused the nominee, businessman Daniel-Gerard Rouzier, of tax evasion and questioned his citizenship. Many believed the real reason for Rouzier’s rejection was that Martelly hadn’t done enough to win the lawmakers’ support beforehand. There are only three people from Martelly’s party in the 99-seat Chamber of Deputies and none in the 30-seat Senate.

“He’s learning the hard way,” said Sen. Steven Benoit. “He’s realizing parliament is the number one power.”

Martelly’s second pick, Bernard Gousse, has not yet come up for a vote but faces stronger opposition. Gousse served as justice minister under the interim government set up by the international community after the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004 and has been accused of persecuting supporters of the former president, who remains a popular figure in Haiti.

“The prime minister-designate is politically dead, and when a person dies, there’s no choice but to bury him,” Jean-Charles Moses, an opposition senator, told Radio Kiskeya.

Martelly’s problems with parliament are not unique. Preval, his predecessor, oversaw a revolving door of prime ministers. Six held the post from 2004-2009, with some sacked by lawmakers.

But the stakes are higher now as the country struggles to jump-start stalled earthquake reconstruction.

“Martelly faces an immediate crisis in the growing frustrations of the victims in the camps and those with near identical unmet basic needs who remain in the urban slums,” the International Crisis Group remarked in a report issued last month.

A group of business leaders in the manufacturing sector issued a statement Monday in which it said the absence of a prime minister was blocking economic development and investment needed for creating jobs.

So far, the main source of Martelly’s opposition had been in parliament and not on the streets — until he showed up in Cap-Haitien on Sunday as part of an effort to promote the country’s north in a weeklong focus on tourism.

Police spokesman Frantz Lerebours said he could not comment because he didn’t have the full report, but witnesses said people threw rocks and soft drink bottles as the president walked through a shantytown near the airport.

Hansy Mars, a correspondent for the weekly Le Nouvelliste and Radio Galaxie who was at the event, said security guards tried to escort Martelly into one of two slow-moving SUVs but he declined and kept walking. Police fired several shots in the air and, according to U.N. spokeswoman Barbara Mertz, Chilean troops from the U.N. military responded.

“I had to take cover to protect myself,” Mars said.

Mars said he saw police arrest 29 people, while U.N. police spokesman Raymond Lamarre said police arrested two people. Nobody was injured.

On Monday and Tuesday nights, there were more arrests on unspecified charges in the same neighborhood as the protest, according to Fritz Joseph, Cap-Haitien’s deputy mayor.

Joseph said Tuesday night that police officers went from house to house and arrested 15 men Monday night and five the next.

“What the police are doing is completely arbitrary,” Joseph said by telephone. “What’s happening now is making the president look bad.”

Lerebours couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday night.

In an earlier interview, he said he didn’t know what prompted the rock and bottle throwing — but it’s not uncommon in Haiti for politicians to hire protesters and troublemakers to do their dirty work for them.

The president dismissed his critics after he returned from Spain, saying opponents were simply trying to undermine him — and he said they would not succeed. “I’m not going to quit,” he said. “I’m here for five years.”

ARTICLE - RECONSTRUCTION OVERHAUL

MARTELLY TO REFORM HAITI RECONSTRUCTION PANEL
(Miami Herald) - By Lesley Clark and Jacqueline Charles

Haitian President Michel Martelly plans to announce Friday *(July 22)* a major overhaul of the reconstruction commission.

PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Disappointed by the slow pace of reconstruction since Haiti’s horrific earthquake 18 months ago, President Michel Martelly plans to announce a major shake-up Friday of the commission charged with the country’s recovery.

Martelly’s plan calls for reforms aimed at strengthening the 34-member panel responsible for disbursing $5.5 billion in promised aid. He also wants the group’s mandate extended by a year. The changes will be announced at a meeting with foreign donors.

The much-anticipated meeting will be the first time that Martelly speaks publicly about his vision for the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission — putting to rest speculation about whether the panel would be revamped or scrapped once its mandate expires in October.

It also comes on the heels of much criticism over the commission and Haiti’s sluggish reconstruction, both inside and outside of Haiti. In April, a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office raised questions about the commission’s success, and its ability to help Haiti dig out from under the rubble. And while staffers say there has been much improvements since the report was made public, concerns remain about whether the IHRC is the right formula for helping Haiti recover.

Of the $3.2 billion in projects approved by the commision, only five have been completed, totaling $84 million. The approved projects are mostly in health, job creation, housing and shelter.

“The IHRC itself has become this extra entity outside of the government, and that is what we need to fix,’’ said Michele Oriol, an advisor to Martelly, who served as his representative on the commission before his election in March. “We have to say, ‘Ok this is an important forum to keep the momentum and focus on Haiti, but here is how we want it to function.’ ’’

And one way will be to ask the commission, and its co-chairs, former U.S. President Bill Clinton and caretaker Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, to explore options for making the panel much more effective. For example, instead of only approving projects, Martelly and his team want to know if the commission can also implement them.

Oriol said while the previous government failed to defined its vision and priority for reconstruction, “honestly, we cannot say nothing was done.’’ But what needs to happen now she said, is more of a sense of Haitian ownership in the effort from including government ministries to educating the public about what the commission does.

Martelly’s advisors have been among some of the harshest critics of the commission, but commission staffers say they have been much more engaged in recent weeks. The president has even tapped a new executive director, Jean-Robert Estime, the son of a former president and close friend of former President René Préval, who is well-respected for his work in agriculture and restoration of watersheds in Haiti.

Still, even as some in the international community welcome Martelly’s enthusiasm for keeping the commission, he will have a difficult job convincing Haitian lawmakers to vote for the extension.

For two months, the president and parliamentarians have been in a political deadlock over Martelly’s choices for prime minister, leaving Haiti without a government. Members of parliament have been invited to attend Friday’s meeting, which was twice postponed because of the political gridlock.

“The tendency in the Senate right now is to wait and see,’’ said Sen. Francois Anick Joseph, a recently elected Haitian senator who represents Haiti’s Artibonite region. “We are requesting a complete report on what has been done, what needs to be done and how much funds is available for that. Senators want to get this kind of information before they make up their mind before approving the extension.’’

While some have called Haiti’s reconstruction painfully slow, Joseph said he doesn’t think “there’s anything to show for the money that has been spent. It’s been a waste of money.’’

“What’s needed in Haiti is a complete overhaul of the concept of international aid,’’ added Joseph, who would rather the funds go to the government to implement its priorities rather than to non-governmental organizations. “As long as we keep doing things the way we are doing them, we will keep getting the same results.’’

So far, calls for changing the way the international community provides aid to Haiti have been dismissed by foreign diplomats and U.S. lawmakers, even as they criticize the effectiveness of aid in Haiti.

“It’s pathetic and sad, with all the resources thrown at the tragedy, it’s showing very few results,’’ Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz told The Miami Herald.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,’’ said Chaffetz, who made a quick visit to Haiti in April. “I recognized that it was poor to start with but I can’t see quantifiable results and it’s totally unacceptable. Celebrities jumped to the forefront to get in the front but they never followed through. I think everyone should go back and start asking questions to put faces in front of the camera.’’

Maxine Waters, D-California, meanwhile, has questioned the ability of the Martelly administration to steer Haiti’s recovery.

“I’m worried about Haiti. I’m worried about the ability of the new government to be leaders to get this done,’’ she said. “I’m worried about the fact that Haiti has never shown any real capability of acquiring the land, much of it in the hand of the elite. I’m worried that reconstruction hasn’t just moved fast enough.”