As rebels threaten capital, CRS seeks humanitarian corridor in Haiti

Published: 2004-02-26

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As Haitian rebels said an attack on the capital was imminent, a U.S. Catholic aid agency called for a humanitarian corridor for relief supplies. Meanwhile, an official of the Canadian bishops' relief and development agency said there would be no solution to Haiti's crisis until President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned. The Canadian Religious Conference urged the United Nations to send in a peacekeeping force to restore order. Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency, said the ongoing instability was restricting the delivery of humanitarian aid. "Roadblocks manned by gunmen outside the capital and along the main road into the rebel-controlled provinces in the North have prevented attempts to deliver relief supplies and assistance to people displaced by fighting, while others cannot purchase basic necessities due to the breakdown in normal economic activity," said a CRS statement Feb. 25. Jed Hoffman, Latin America regional director for CRS, said the agency had joined other relief organizations in pressuring the Haitian government and rebel leaders to open a humanitarian corridor. CRS announced it allocated $150,000 in emergency and humanitarian assistance for those in need in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and in the northern part of the country.

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