PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Haiti slipped deeper into unrest on Friday as gangs of former soldiers roamed the capital and a mob of protesters beat a man to death with stones, following a botched election that has left no successor for outgoing President Michel Martelly.
Reuters witnesses said the crowd attacked an unidentified man wearing military style clothes. The protesters accused him of being a member of a widely unpopular army that was disbanded in 1995.
Martelly is due to leave office on Sunday but squabbling politicians have failed to organize an interim government to replace him, after the runoff election to choose his successor was scrapped last month amid violence and fraud allegations.
(Writing by Frank Jack Daniel)
Compassion International has released a report showing that five years after the massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake that devastated Haiti they are on track to fulfill promises made during rebuilding.
The Christian ministry is on track to build 30 new school buildings by spring. The schools, built with $31.2 million dollars from sponsors and donors, will help get education back on track.
Compassion even created a construction company with engineers from El Salvador to build the 30 schools. The schools will have the unique feature of being built to withstand strong earthquakes like the 7.0 quake of 2010.
The majority of students in the country receive their education from private church run schools because there is no established public school system in Haiti.
Matthew Moore of Compassion told the Christian Post that the schools were a necessity because without them they could have lost 25,000 children from their programs to improve their lives and prepare them for a better life.
An elderly American missionary stabbed to death in Haiti last week has been remembered as a champion of those in need and a tireless worker for spreading the truth and love of Jesus Christ.
George Knoop, 77, a former Chicago area teacher before becoming a missionary to Haiti, was attacked inside his home in the Haitian capital May 13th. Friends say that Knoop was able to make a cell phone call after the attack but was unable to speak; by the time they reached the home he was dead.
Officials say they have no suspects in the murder. Investigators say the incident was likely a crime of opportunity as a computer was stolen from the home and the murder weapon was a knife that had been in the home.
“I studied the Bible with him and he helped me a lot,” Charles Ronald said at the memorial. “He was generous, helping people, paying for their school, their rents, their food.”
Pastor Larry McCarthy of Moody Church Chicago, who was Knoop’s pastor, said that when the retiree moved to Haiti he sold his home, his TV, his car and his clothes so he could spend everything helping the people of Haiti recover from the devastating 2010 earthquake that left more than 200,000 people dead.
Over 8,000 people in Haiti have died from a cholera outbreak directly connected to UN Forces in the nation but their claim for compensation has been denied by the world body. Continue reading →
A cholera epidemic in Haiti has killed almost 8,000 people leading the United Nations to launch a $2 billion appeal for help in stopping the deaths.
The campaign comes as reports begin to surface that the current outbreak, the worst in the world at this time, started in a United Nations camp. Dr. Daniele Lantagne, a cholera specialist, said that UN troops from Nepal arrived with the disease. Nepal has widespread cholera cases and the molecular structure of the Haitian cholera matches strains from Nepal in 2010. Continue reading →
In the wake of 54 people being killed from Hurricane Sandy, Haiti is now looking at almost 1.5 million people going hungry in 2013 because of the storm’s damage.
The United Nations is reporting that a drought in the spring and summer coupled with the extensive damage to property and equipment caused by successive natural disasters have essentially wiped out farming in large parts of the nation. Continue reading →
The heavy rain and strong winds of Hurricane Sandy has devastated the crops of Haiti to the point aid workers are predicting a serious food shortage across the country.
Officials report that 70% of the nation’s crops were destroyed by the storm. Food shortages were already a concern but now that the banana, plantain and corn crops have been mostly wiped out a famine seems all but certain. Continue reading →