Haiti: UN mission to expedite troop arrivals to help with storm relief efforts

The United Nations is trying to expedite the arrival of additional peacekeeping troops to help with emergency relief efforts in northern Haiti, where Tropical Storm Jeanne left a trail of misery earlier this month.

Six national contingents of "blue helmets" pledged to the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) but not scheduled to be deployed until later this year could now be sent within the next couple of weeks. Four smaller contingents of civilian police may also be transferred soon.

A spokesperson for the UN said their exact date of arrival still depended on logistics and whether the troops' heavy equipment could be sent with them.

More than 3,000 MINUSTAH peacekeepers are currently stationed across Haiti, including almost 700 in the northern city of Gonaïves, the hardest hit by the floods and mudslides that followed Tropical Storm Jeanne.

The Mission, which has an authorized strength of 6,700 troops was expected to be fully deployed by late December. But the majority of the remaining troops may now arrive in the next few weeks.

MINUSTAH peacekeepers have taken part in relief efforts since the storm struck Haiti, protecting aid workers as they hand out supplies such as food and water, and sometimes distributing aid themselves.

In Gonaïves, MINUSTAH Force Commander Lt. Gen. Augusto Heleno Ribero Pereira said five food and water distribution points have now been established.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters in New York that helicopters are making 10 to 15 trips each day to ferry supplies to Gonaïves, while two protected convoys are also travelling from the capital, Port-au-Prince, every day.

Haitian authorities have reported that at least 1,300 people are dead and more than 1,000 others are missing in the wake of Tropical Storm Jeanne, the latest in a series of deadly hurricanes and storms to sweep the Caribbean region this season.

Hurricane Ivan caused death and destruction in Grenada, Jamaica and the United States earlier this month, while Hurricanes Charley and Frances have also proven deadly. On Friday UN humanitarian agencies will launch appeals to help Grenada and Haiti recover.