US troops deployed to Haiti during a bloody revolt to oust former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide will begin leaving in the midst of another crisis as the nation tries to recover from deadly floods.
Rushing help to people in submerged villages after floods killed more than 1,400 in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the troops control the few helicopters that can reach inaccessible areas. In the past few days, they have airlifted more than 45,000kg of food and drinking water and evacuated the injured from submerged towns like Mapou.
For some of the 1,900 US troops -- 1,500 of them Marines -- the end to their Haiti mission is a bittersweet moment.
PHOTO: EPA
"On the one hand, we'll leave with a sense of accomplishment," said Marine Lieutenant-Colonel Dave Lapan, spokesman for the US-led multinational task force sent to secure and stabilize the nation. "On the other hand, there's so much this place needs."
A symbolic handover is set for today, but only a fraction of the planned 8,000 or so UN troops and police have arrived, and none have brought helicopters needed to help flood victims.
Most of the US troops will stay on for a while to help with the transition.
Afterward, many will head back to Iraq. Fewer than a dozen US troops will participate in the UN force.
Floods and mudslides brought on by three days of heavy rain wiped out entire villages in Haiti's southeast around the farming community of Mapou, a week before hurricane season.
Desperate survivors from 14 surrounding villages clamored for food and water on Sunday, as the military helicopters swooped down every hour or so with more aid and some 1,000 Haitians stood waiting in the heat, shouting and hitting their bellies.
Soldiers did regular patrols to keep people from stealing food.
"People have been hiding in corn fields and jumping each other at night to get rice and other food," said US Marine Corporal Scott Rossman.
Survivor Philis Milfort, 87, lost eight relatives.
"Now I have no house, no animals, and no family -- and now the people who they appointed to distribute the food are only giving it to their friends," Milfort complained, hobbling on crutches because he lost a leg three years ago to disease.
UN and aid workers complained Sunday some of the food wasn't reaching people.
"Right now there is no equity" said Bernard Gianoli, a UN disaster assessment official.
"The food distribution has to be improved," he said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS