A Haïti, chaos et leadership US

A Haïti, chaos et leadership US

Dans la presse britannique, qui a été très prompte à envoyer des journalistes pour la couverture des événements à Haïti, le Times de Londres est le plus critique de la situation, de l’absence de contrôle et de direction. Indirectement mais d’une façon explicite, le quotidien londonien est critique de l’action US dans ce pays dévasté, à cause du rôle proéminent pris par la Grande République dans l’opération. Parmi ces critiques, notamment celles qui s’exercent contre les mesures de blocage sélectif des arrivées sur l’aéroport et sur la sélection des vols autorisés, et des décisions de complet blocage lorsqu’un officiel US (Hillary Clinton samedi) est sur place pour bien montrer aux médias la présence US. Le Times fait un large écho au mécontentement des organisations humanitaires, lui aussi largement anti-US, toujours à cause du rôle proéminent joué par les USA. De Paris, dans un texte du 18 janvier, Charles Bremner met l’action sur la critique française de l’action US.

Le Times publie deux articles ce 19 janvier, sur le même thème, de ses trois envoyés spéciaux sur l’île. Les descriptions donnent une semblable impression de chaos et de critique anti-US. Les extraits ci-dessous sont successivement du premier et du second.

• Premier texte («This is criminal: leadership is desperately needed»):

«On the tarmac the 82nd Airborne Division, some of whom I spoke to on Sunday, had been languishing since Wednesday night, sitting around, smoking cigarettes, not having left the airport. Outside the perimeter tens of thousands of Haitians were desperate for water and were begging for food and medicine.

»Private First Class Patrick Jones told me that only a few supplies of food and water had arrived. “We don’t want to go out and distribute anything until we are sure we have enough for everyone,” he said. “We don’t want to give to some and not to others.”

»There are planes from the US, Nicaragua, Argentina, the UK, Canada, Chile, Spain and France — yet no central command. Aid agencies were incensed by Hillary Clinton’s visit on Saturday. The US military blocked supply planes from landing to make way for her arrival.»

• Second texte («Haiti has a leader in charge, but not in control»).

«Six days after disaster struck, the operation to rescue Haiti descended into blame and finger-pointing yesterday as only a trickle of food, water and medical assistance reached hundreds of thousands of victims. Aid agencies and donor countries accused the US military of giving its own aircraft priority. Outside the airport, aid and rescue workers protested that nobody seemed to be in charge as looting and lawlessness rose sharply on the streets of Port-au-Prince.

»Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) complained that it had had five aircraft carrying medical supplies and doctors diverted to the Dominican Republic since Saturday, and that the earliest landing slot it could secure at Port-au-Prince for a relief aircraft supposed to leave today was January 26. MSF said that the US military, which is running Port-au-Prince’s airport, had skewed priorities and it declared: “Priority must be given immediately to planes carrying life-saving equipment and medical personnel.” Forty per cent of incoming flights since last Tuesday have been military.

»Alain Joyandet, the French Co-operation Minister, called on the UN to investigate America’s dominant role in the relief effort and protested: “This is about helping Haiti, not occupying it.” Aid officials in Haiti complained of the lack of co-ordination between the UN, the US and aid agencies and were enraged when the airport was closed on Saturday so that Mrs Clinton could visit. “I don’t really know who’s in charge,” said Benoît Leduc, MSF’s operations manager in the capital.»

dedefensa.org