Haiti - FLASH : A Dutch aid ship turned back for fear of a riot
Sunday the "HNLMS Pelikaan", a Dutch warship from Curacao (Netherlands Antilles), carrying on board 35 tons of humanitarian goods (food, hygiene kits and shelter among others...) to Jérémie could not unload its cargo on the Haitian port.
The Dutch military and humanitarian organizations on site, explained that there were too many people (many thousands), not enough security measures to ensure the distribution of aid. Faced with the risk of a riot to unforeseen circumstances, the ship's captain chose to to leave at sea.
However, the Dutch boat could try to dock again in the coming days if the Haitian government guarantee it more security.
For his part, the mayor of Jérémie, Claude Harry Milord considers that this situation was due to a problem of coordination and planning between the Dutch and the Haitian Red Cross which would not have allowed to take all the necessary security measures with the institutions concerned.
