US troops swooped down in helicopters to take control of Haiti’s ruined presidential palace today as the earthquake relief operation gathered pace.
Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne division arrived in at least four Black Hawk helicopters to secure the executive mansion, a once elegant white building that collapsed in last week’s quake and is now surrounded by a vast refugee camp.
From the palace, a 100-strong infantry company headed on foot to the city’s general hospital, swamped with injured left behind by last week’s catastrophic earthquake, which the Haitian Government says killed at least 70,000 and maybe three times that.
“We are here to provide security to the hospital. We work with the government of Haiti. We have rules of engagement, but we are on a humanitarian mission,” said Sergeant Bill Smith, one of the soldiers.
It was the most spectacular deployment so far in the US military’s operation to bring relief to Port-au-Prince, and brought a crowd of quake victims rushing to the iron railings of the palace hoping for handouts
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But it was not welcomed by some in the crowd who saw the arrival as an affront to Haitian sovereignty.
“I haven’t seen the Americans in the streets giving out water and food, but now they come to the palace,” said Wilson Guillaume, as some of the homeless living rough in the Champ de Mars square before the palace shouted abuse at the Americans.
“It’s an occupation. The palace is our power, our face, our pride,” added Feodor Desanges, another bystander.
While most Haitians have welcomed the international intervention, there is mounting frustration as what many see as the slow pace of moves to provide food and shelter to the homeless, and looting has broken out.
There has also been sniping from international partners – although President Sarkozy of France backed away today from a complaint from one of his ministers that the Americans were “occupying Haiti” rather than helping it.
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Some aid agency officials have complained about their flights being turned back at the airport, where thousands of American troops have been holed up, most of whom have not ventured beyond the airport perimeters.
While army paratroopers took charge of key sites in the city centre, US Marines were landing southwest of the city to link up with UN peacekeepers and enable a larger flow of troops and equipment.
In a bid to accelerate the arrival of humanitarian aid and stem looting and violence, the UN Security Council unanimously agreed to temporarily add 2,000 UN troops and 1,500 police to the 9,000-member peacekeeping mission in Haiti.
But international doctors said disease would be the next big challenge for the tens of thousands of Haitians left injured and homeless when the massive quake struck a week ago.
Even as the US and UN deploy more troops to secure the relief operation, hundreds of looters have been swarming over damaged stores in Port-au-Prince, seizing goods and fighting among themselves.
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United Nations relief agency officials say the security situation is under control and has not yet hampered distribution of food rations, which has reached 270,000 Haitians so far.
“The situation is tense but calm. Of course there are lootings because the population is on edge,” Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said in Geneva.
Haitian officials say the death toll from the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that destroyed much of the capital on Januaryu 12 was likely to be between 100,000 and 200,000.
Some 52 rescue teams from around the world are still engaged in a race against time to find people still alive under the rubble of collapsed buildings. They have saved around 90 people, including two yesterday.
“There is hope, because of the conditions, a mild climate and air pockets in the debris due to the way houses are constructed,” Ms Byrs said today.
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More than 11,000 US military personnel are on the ground, on ships offshore or en route to Haiti, including some 2,200 Marines with earth-moving equipment, medical aid and helicopters.
The Haitian President, Rene Preval, said that US troops would help UN peacekeepers keep order on Haiti’s increasingly lawless streets, where overstretched UN and Haitian forces have been unable to provide full security.
The US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, said U.S. forces would not play a police role but would defend themselves and “have the right to defend innocent Haitians and members of the international community if they see something happen”.
Medical teams pouring into Port-au-Prince to set up mobile hospitals said they were overwhelmed by the casualties and warned of the immediate threats of tetanus and gangrene as well as the spread of measles, meningitis and other infections.
The World Health Organisation said today that at least 13 hospitals were working in or around Port-au-Prince. The UN health agency was due to bring in emergency medical supplies today to treat 120,000 people over the next month.