Haiti urged to end political crisis
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"In the critical days and weeks ahead, it is vital that the international community stand united in impressing upon all relevant actors in Haiti the need to set aside their narrow partisan interests and work towards a better future for their country," he said.
"Haiti is at a crossroads. The choices made in coming days will determine whether the country continues to move forward along the path to stability and long-term development. The recommendations of the OAS technical mission provide the elements of a path out the current crisis and merit our full support," he added, pledging full UN support "to ensure that dialogue, and respect for the country's laws and institutions ultimately prevail."
A peacekeeping mission, known by its French acronym MINUSTAH, currently with nearly 12,000 military and police personnel, has been on the ground in Haiti since mid-2004 after then president Jean-Bertrand Aristide went into exile amid violent unrest.
Giving the Council an update on the humanitarian situation in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos warned of the "urgent need for massive mobilization activities to promote prevention and early treatment" in the cholera epidemic, which has already infected almost 200,000 people and killed over 3,700 since October.
She noted that Haiti has "ideal conditions" for cholera's spread, with poor and non-existent water, sanitation, and healthcare infrastructure, population density especially in the urban slums, and lack of knowledge of how to prevent infections through hygienic steps.
But the overall fatality rate has dropped from a peak of 9 per cent to around 2 per cent, indicating that while the infection is still spreading, treatment facilities and intensive public information campaigns on how to protect from the disease are working. She warned, however, that these efforts require stability in the country, adding: "If aid supplies and aid workers cannot move around freely, or if sick people cannot reach help in time, the fatality rate will quickly rise again."
On the earthquake, which killed 220,000 people and made 1.5 million others homeless, Ms. Amos said much had been achieved in the past year but 800,000 people are still in camps.
"The relief effort has helped millions of people, but it has not – and will not – provide the long-term solutions which are desperately needed. Accelerating recovery efforts must be the absolute priority for 2011," she cautioned.
"It is important to still be realistic about how long it is going to take to get everybody to where they want and need to be. We cannot expect that Haiti, the poorest and least developed country in the Western Hemisphere before the earthquake, will be rebuilt in one year or even two. Humanitarian agencies are prepared to stand beside the poorest and most vulnerable Haitian people for as long as it takes to recover."
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