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Tag: Haiti

  • Haiti in trouble again

    Haiti in trouble again

    History, they say, repeats itself. This is particularly true of the Caribbean Island we have come to know as Haiti. For the umpteen time, the Island is again embroiled in multiple crises—the crisis of leadership; the crisis of hunger; the crisis of infrastructural decay; and the crisis of insecurity. These crises are worsened by gangster-led attacks on citizens and state actors alike, particularly security agents and state structures. The present spate of gang violence began on February 29, 2024.

    However, when it comes to Haiti, it is often difficult to know precisely when one crisis ends and another begins. True, Haitian history is typified by one type of crisis or another, the present spate of crises could be said to have begun in 2010, following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, which destroyed much of the capital, Port-au-Prince, killed up to 300,000 people, and dispossessed over one million people.

    In the aftermath of the disaster, various gangs developed or consolidated in association with various members of the economic and political elite. Gang competition for territorial space has been going side by side with elite struggle for power. The competition and power struggle escalated with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, which left a power vacuum occupied by Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

    In the last few weeks, a federation of gangs, including the gang of Jimmy Cherizier (a.k.a Barbeque), a notorious Haitian gangster, has seized power, by seizing the airport, burning down the house of the police chief, and trading fire with police, which is outnumbered by weaponised gangsters. In the face of these crises, nobody seems to care anymore about how Haiti came to be and why it remains a troubled nation.

    Political conflicts

    What eventually became Haiti was originally born out of conflict between the Spanish and the French over the western portion of the Spanish island colony of Hispaniola. In resolving the dispute, the western part of the island, where the French had settled by 1625, was ceded to France in 1697.

    For nearly two centuries (1625-1804), the French colonists extracted the last drop of labour from West African slaves brought in to work on the sugar cane and coffee plantations. By the time of the French Revolution in 1789, the colony had emerged as France’s richest colonial possession and one of the richest colonies in the world.

    However, the economic boom would soon perish. It all started with the struggle for independence. Piggybacking on the French Revolution, the slaves mounted their own revolution against the French. After 12 years of conflict, Napoleon Bonaparte’s army was defeated, and the French territory was renamed Haiti on independence on January 1, 1804. By this feat, Haiti became the only nation in history that was established by a successful slave revolt; the first country to abolish slavery; and the first independent nation of the Caribbean and Latin America.

    These feats notwithstanding, Haiti would know no peace. First, fearful of the spread of independence revolt to American slaves, the American government pursued international isolation of the newly independent nation.

    Heavy debts

    Second, the French returned with warships in 1825 to demand compensation for the loss of their colony and the plantations. The agreed sum of the compensation seriously undercut Haiti’s economic activities for 122 years! By the time the compensation was fully paid in 1947, Haiti was already sinking under political turmoil.

    For a century after independence, Haiti struggled but made no progress. Continued political instability in the early 1900s led to American fears of foreign intervention. As a result, the United States occupied the country for 19 years between 1915 and 1934.

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    Although the Americans tried to stabilize the economy during their occupation, their exit was followed by even more political instability and more debt. True, power did not change hands as frequently or violently as before when the Duvalier family (Papa and Baby Doc) took over for 20 years (1956-1986). However, instead of stabilizing the country, the Duvalier dynasty was marked by state-sponsored violence, corruption, and economic stagnation. Worse still, the dynasty incurred additional debts. Although the debts were eventually forgiven, political instability and corruption would prevent national development.

    Political instability

    Haiti has never been able to sustain democracy. Neither America’s Operation Uphold Democracy nor the United Nation’s Stabilization Mission has been able to salvage democracy in the country. Its leaders were either ousted in a military coup, forced to resign and flee the country, or assassinated. At least five Haitian leaders have been assassinated since independence, the most recent being Jovenel Moïse, who was killed in his bedroom on July 7, 2021.

    Natural disasters

    What is worse, nature has not been kind to Haitians. In 1994, Hurricane Gordon killed between 1,122 and 2,200 people. In 2004, over 3,000 people were killed in flooding and mudslides by Tropical Storm Jeanne. Again, in 2008, a series of Tropical storms killed over 300 people and left as many as 800,000 in dire need of humanitarian aid. Two years later, in 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, killing as many as 300,000 and displacing over one million people. Then in 2021, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck another part of the country, killing thousands more and destroying property.

    Images of the devastation from these disasters showed helpless people and grossly inadequate or weak structures, obviously a result of poverty and government neglect. Many were picking debris with bare hands, looking for loved ones still buried beneath the rubble or scavenging for food or something of value.

    Gang violence today

    Genuine efforts to deliver food and medical aid to thousands of victims of natural disasters were often disrupted by criminal gangs and mob violence. Haitians fought for 12 years for self determination and attained independence 220 years ago. Today, they are the poorest people in the Western Hemisphere, struggling for survival. On several occasions, the international community, led by the United States, has come to Haiti’s aid.

    Unfortunately, gang violence has delayed the latest attempt at a temporary resolution. A nine-person (recently reduced to eight-person) transitional council set up by the international community has been prevented from naming a transitional Prime Minister, following Henry’s planned resignation. It is now hoped that the council would meet next week.

    Some Nigerians may begin to see some of Haiti’s problems here at home, such as poverty, hunger, and infrastructural decay. They may think that there is no difference in the violence by gangs and violence by Boko Haram and bandits. After all, they are all non-state actors. Nevertheless, only those who have been to Haiti or otherwise know the country well would realise that there really are no comparisons. The differences between Nigeria and Haiti are far more than the similarities in substance and scale. But that is a subject for another day.

    Given Haiti’s enduring historical and cultural ties to Africa as well as its use as a reference point for Blacks, the time to acknowledge Haiti’s problems as Africa’s problems is now. This is particularly true of the West African subregion, from where most slaves in Haiti were taken over 400 years ago.

  • Haiti and the future of the Black Person

    Haiti and the future of the Black Person

    For the umpteenth time in its chequered history, Haiti has descended into chaos and disorder, a smoldering inferno of confusion fuelled by hate and national disorientation. Port- au- Prince, its grossly misnamed capital, is a haunting scene out of some surreal and apocalyptic novel. In the horrific carnage, charred corpses compete with the incinerated carcasses of animals with people reduced to feral existence roaming listlessly about.

       The situation reminds one of the horrors of Gaza and the circumstances of some postcolonial nations in Africa. But Haiti’s dilemma is much more distressing and fear inducing.  Whereas postcolonial African nations retain a semblance of the colonial state put together by the colonial masters which often allows them to reassemble their scrambled wits and pick up the pieces, Haiti has never been able to boast of a properly functioning state ever since its proclamation as a nation in 1804 by a band of dare-devil former slaves. Haiti can be described as a nation without a state. The reason lies in its storied history.

       The presiding deity or demon of Haiti’s current House of Horrors is a man named Jimmy Cherizier, aka Barbecue, a former cop turned street strongman, who has about eighty percent of the capital under his unruly writ. With the well-armed thugs, Barbecue had already occupied the main airport which had prevented the embattled prime minister Ariel Henry from returning after a peace mission abroad. He became effectively stranded in Puerto Rico.

       Even before the hapless and heedless Ariel Henry announced his resignation during the week effectively handing over his beleaguered country to the international community, Barbecue already had his rifle sight trained on the Presidential Palace. The Haitian Armed Forces were nowhere to be found in all this. Talk of the state withering and evaporating before the might of non-state actors.

       But listen to the hate-filled rant of this former cop and drug-suffused rap and you cannot but conclude that he is on to something. In all likelihood, and any sham election without legitimacy or popular endorsement notwithstanding, Haiti faces another period of occupation by foreign forces which must first try to restore order and normalcy before statehood can be redeemed.  Ever since its proclamation, Haiti has practiced a strange system of fetish autocracy moderated by assassination and occupation.

      The occupation, particularly by the United States, sometimes lasting decades in a stretch, often takes on the hue of colonization by any other name. But since the Americans themselves often boast that they do not do nation-building or engage in state reconstruction, Haiti always reverts to its default setting of an anarchic and stateless anomaly. This is the root of the tragedy that has overtaken post-Saddam Iraq and the swift decapitation of American influence in Afghanistan by the resurgent Taliban after two decades of American occupation and trillions of dollars down the drain.

       It is the Americans themselves who put the economic motivation of their interventions in Haiti in striking perspective. It is immigration control at source, it was claimed. It was in America’s economic self-interest to prevent Haiti spiraling out of control, otherwise it could prove very difficult to prevent the hordes of Haitian refugees swarming and scrambling across the US border.

       The assassination that sparked off the current unrest in Haiti happened in 2021 when its president, Jovenel Moise, was killed by Colombian marauders who came in the dead of the night mainly from the sea. No one has been brought to justice for that dastardly murder. Interestingly enough, a recent report fingered both the outgoing prime-minister and the wife of the late president as being accomplices in the elimination of the president.

       It speaks volumes about the fragility and endemic infirmity of the Haitian state if a ragtag force could so easily overwhelm the presidential guard and eliminate the nation’s foremost citizen without any repercussions. The nation has not known any peace ever since as armed thugs and non-state social misfits rose to the occasion making the country ungovernable.

      Unable and unwilling to organize any proper election, Henry stalled and stonewalled hoping to profit from the misery of his people. As he did, Barbecue expanded his writ and dominion over the beleaguered nation by sacking the main prisons and making life impossible for everybody. The consequences of this contrived stalemate came when Ariel Henry discovered that he could not return to the country he had left in ruins.

      Haiti’s problem can be likened to the plight of the lame fellow who asked people not to judge him by the state of the misaligned luggage he was carrying but by the circumstances of his misshapen limbs. The problem is more fundamental. There is no foundation all the way down the line.  Toussaint L’Ouverture and his conspirators faced overwhelming odds.

    Despite their bravery and unusual courage, the military genius that saw them defeat their colonial oppressors in the first pitched confrontation between an army made of black people against their imperialist oppressors, was not nearly enough. They lacked the bureaucratic knowledge, the philosophical wherewithal and the scientific nous to run a modern government and its state apparatus.

       They could not have learnt this in the forest redoubt they fled to in order to escape the colonial noose. They would have been too preoccupied with how to ward off the encircling predators. But despite their tribulations, they managed to forge a common identity among the disparate groups of runaway slaves. It was an identity forged in suffering and uncommon struggle.

      It was the birth of a great African nation out of Africa. Haiti was without any doubt the first authentic Black nation. But without any commensurate state, it wasn’t going anywhere. Unable to master the rudiment of scientific modernity either in statecraft or societal development, the new nation quickly dissolved into a self-disabling compendium of sorcery, mumbo-jumbo and Black magic which has remained its organizing imperative till date.

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       This is not to talk of the naval blockade, the crippling war reparation imposed by France and the sheer hostility which forbade shared experiences. The new nation was cut adrift from birth unable to enjoy the economic and political freedom that ought to go with its military freedom. This is what Toussaint meant when he passionately pleaded with his French tormentors and subsequent abductors not to substitute the aristocracy of class they have just violently dismantled at home with the aristocracy of race abroad.

      But it fell on deaf ears. The new French revolutionary victors would have baulked at the thought and contumely of it all. How could former slaves demand equality from their masters? They had not even forgiven them for their old infractions of thinking they were free. The alarm bell started ringing in the new American Republic of Jefferson and co. If people they had classified as sub-humans without any right to vote could constitute themselves into a new nation, then all was not well with the new world.

       The Haitian tragedy can now be placed in its proper universal perspective. It is a colonial tragedy on a monumental scale. It is not a question of whether Africans can do the modern state or the modern nation but whether in the last six hundred years, they have been allowed to develop along their own steam and initiative. A modern and scientifically primed and inquisitive Haiti would have been a magnetizing hub, a rallying Mecca, for subsequent African nations created by colonial fiat.

    In the circumstances, it is now Haiti that is more in need of salvation and civilization than desperately ailing African nations. In a replay of the biblical paradox, Haiti, the first African nation, has become the last just as Portugal, the first truly modern nation-state, has become the least developed European nation.  Yet as the founding continent and originating home of all humanity, Africa has a profound capacity to produce regenerative genes which cannot be found anywhere else.

      This is why the lacklustre performance of some of the continent’s prodigiously endowed nations continues to be a catastrophe for the Black race. The wager is that a few of these countries are destined for global stardom once they get their act together. How and when that African renaissance will come about, whether it will be by peaceful evolution or after some epic transformative showdown, remains a subject of historical conjectures.

     As for the hapless Haitians, it is obvious that they have been victims of a double jeopardy. Having been abducted from their original African homestead, they were abandoned in the middle of nowhere like orphans for having the temerity to ask for freedom. The foul and fetid smell of the open sewers, the suppurating slums, the turgid hens, the fearsome cats and the wild goats that roam their anarchic capital right in the heart of western civilization will constitute an open sore of humanity for a long time to come.

  • Haiti on the boil again

    Haiti on the boil again

    • By Olabode Lucas

    Many Nigerians would remember a country called Haiti, as one of the four countries that recognized the secessionist Biafra during our unfortunate civil war in the late sixties. The other three countries were Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Zambia. Haiti was the only country outside Africa that recognized the ill-fated Biafra and this recognition was influenced by the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe who was a personal friend of Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc), the then president of Haiti who ruled the hapless country from 1957 to 1971. The Haitian people have African origin and it is a Caribbean country that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. Most of the people in Haiti still practice African traditional religion and the country is well known for a weird and frightening religious practice called Voodoo, which many people believed to have come from the present Republic of Benin, Nigeria next door neighbour.

    If there is any country that can be regarded as an utterly failed state, I think Haiti qualifies to be the one in every sense of it. It is hard to remember when Haiti had a stable and functioning government. This unfortunate and dysfunctional country is regarded as the poorest in the southern hemisphere. The standard of living in this country of just a little over 11 million people is characterized by decay and deplorable infrastructure with chaotic urban setting, similar to the situations in West Africa.

    The present political upheaval in Haiti started a few weeks ago when armed gangs organized and stormed the country’s country two biggest jails in the capital, Port- au-Prince and in Croix des Bouquet. About 3.800 hardened prisoners were released to carry out mayhem among the populace. This was followed by coordinated attacks on government institutions and police stations across the country. The country’s main port in the capital was attacked and vandalized by the armed gangs. The destruction of the port heightened the sceptre of hunger in the country because the UN agency could no longer bring in food to feed the impoverished and malnourished Haitians.

    At present, 1500 people have been driven from their homes while 1500 people have been killed as a result of the political and social turmoil in the country.

    The present lawlessness in the country is perpetrated by collection of gangs called G9 led by one Jimmy Cherizier, a former policeman nicknamed Barbecue. The gang leader threatened that there would be civil war in Haiti if the former prime minister and now acting president Ariel Henry does not resign. Ariel Henry is currently being implicated in the death of the former president, Jovenel Moise, shot death in July 2021 by Colombia mercenaries. Also implicated in the killing of the former president, surprisingly was his widow Martine Moise who was also injured when her husband was killed by the mercenaries. She was accused of complicity and criminal association.

    At present, the beleaguered acting president, Ariel Henry has not been able to return to his country from his trip to Kenya where he went to push for the redeployment of a UN backed multinational police mission to Haiti. He is now in Puerto Rico after he had been denied entry by the neighbouring Dominican Republic. It is reported that the government of the USA is putting pressure on him to step aside. On the UN deployment of police spearheaded by William Ruto of Kenya, it is difficult to see the impact these ill-equipped policemen who could not speak the local languages of Haiti would have on the chaotic situations in Haiti fuelled by fiendish and long-standing criminal gangs. It is an ill- thought proposal by William Ruto. He did not even carry other African countries along. Since the agreement was signed to send Kenya police to Haiti, many Kenyan policemen and women had resigned.

    In order to understand the root causes of the present crisis in Haiti, and why Haiti is always on the boil, it will be necessary to make a little incursion into the history of this country which otherwise could have been a pride of every Blackman and woman because of its laudable and exemplary liberation struggle.

    Haiti became independent from the oppressive France in 1791 after a slave revolt. The leader of this revolt was Toussant Louverture who is now regarded as the father of Haitian Nation.  He and his troops defeated Napoleon in the Haitian War of Independence between 1801 and 1804. For this audacity, the Western power notably France and the USA made life difficult for this new nation and made Haiti ungovernable. For the Haitian nation to be recognized, France made huge financial demand from Haiti for the loss of its slaves, infrastructure and plantations. France demanded from Haiti 90 million gold francs for its so-called losses. The first payment alone from this punishing penalty was six times Haiti’s annual revenue at that time. Haiti was forced to pay this huge money from its agricultural products. This was the beginning of the present poverty and economic dislocation in Haiti that had blighted this hapless country for centuries. In 2003, the then president of Haiti, Jean Aristide demanded that France should pay back over $21 billion to his country which he considered to be the equivalent in today’s money, the 90 million gold francs that France forced Haiti to pay for its freedom. No French government has taken any action on this.

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    France should be held responsible for the abject poverty and political and economic dislocations currently afflicting Haiti. It was callous of France to demand such a huge amount from a fledgling country that was yet to find its feet. It is a well-known fact that French colonial policy was debilitating and characterized by economic subjugation of the colonized people. France tried this heinous colonial policy in Southeast Asian countries of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam where it was disgraced out. France then came to Africa to continue the odious policy where it installed its puppets as presidents of the so-called independent Francophone countries so that these puppets could further help it to subjugate the African people. It is a thing of joy that new leaders in these countries as we saw recently in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea are throwing out the suffocating French toga. In addition to the atrocities committed by France in Haiti, the United States of America also contributed to the woes of Haiti which it occupied between 1915 and 1934. During this period, the Haitians were brutally discriminated against and economically subjugated.

    The present travail of Haiti could also be attributed to past leadership failures in the country. The most famous ruler of Haiti was Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc) who ruled Haiti from 1957 to 1971. Duvalier trained as a doctor in Michigan in the USA and came back home to be a well-loved rural doctor. On getting to power in 1957, he became a brutal dictator. He institutionalized gang menace in his country, when he organized a death squad known as Tonton Macoute to deal ruthlessly with political opponents. This was the beginning of gang activities in Haiti that have blighted the socio-political life of the country till this day. After his death in 1971, his son Jean-Claude Duvalier known as Baby Doc took over the government of Haiti. It was a great misfortune of Haiti to be ruled for 15 years by this over bloated moronic man. It was reported that his wily mother was the power behind the throne. In 1986, he was overthrown and fled to France with a lot of Haitian resources.

    Subsequent leaders like Bertrand Aristide, a former Reverend Father who renounced his vow of celibacy to marry could not hold the country together as they were muzzled and immobilized by murderous gangs who held sway in many parts of the country. Hope for good governance rose with the election of Jovenel Moise in 2017 but he was assassinated. His assassination was said to have been engineered by his Prime Minister Ariel Henry and surprisingly his wife, Marine Moise.

    Nature has not been kind to Haiti also. In 2010, a powerful 7.1 magnitude quake devastated the country claiming the lives of 300,000 people with over a million homeless. There was a repeat in 2021. These earthquakes were reported to be one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history. Haiti was in ruin and devastated as a result of these natural disasters. The damages caused by these earthquakes were estimated to be in billions of dollars, although there were allegations that millions of dollars meant to help earthquake victims were embezzled.

    Any black man and woman in the world would be worried about the unending political chaos in Haiti. As previously mentioned, Haiti has a proud history of freedom struggle. It is in this vein one can understand the motive of William Ruto of Kenya to help bring sanity to this beleaguered country, however he could not do it alone and the possibility of success is not high if one judges by the failures of past attempts of UN forces to bring sanity to that country.  Haiti certainly needs the help of the rest of the world to get rid of the unpatriotic fiendish gangs that have laid this black nation prostrate.

    •Professor Lucas writes from Old Bodija, Ibadan.

  • Fed Govt completes Haiti collapsed school

    Fed Govt completes Haiti collapsed school

    The Federal Government of Nigeria has in furtherance of efforts at consolidating the subsisting bilateral relations between Nigeria and Haiti,  completed the construction of Benoit Batraville High School located in Saut-D’eau, Haiti.

    The project, initiated as Nigeria’s response to the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010, was supported by well- meaning Nigerians and the Red Cross Society.

    It would be recalled that the project was suspended in 2015 due to unforeseen circumstances but rejuvenated by the Nigerian government through its High Commission in Jamaica that was concurrently accredited to Haiti in 2022

    The mission, after satisfying due process requirements, awarded the contract to a Jamaican based Benson Construction Company. Despite all odds including security challenges in Haiti, the project commenced in February 2023 and was completed in record time by August 23.

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    The building was handed over to the Haitian authorities on 29th August 2023, while the handover was ongoing, speeches and goodwill messages were delivered via zoom by top government functionaries of both countries.

    In attendance were Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Jamaica with concurrent accreditation to Haiti, Dominican Republic and Belize; H.E Amb. Maureen Tamuno, Minister of Education  Haiti; Mr Nesmy Manigat, Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Haiti, representing the Minister of Foreign Affairs  Haiti;Mr Azad Belfort, and senior government officials from Haiti.

    In her remarks, H.E Maureen Tamuno applauded the bilateral relations between both countries, and expressed delight at the delivery of the project. She expressed her thanks to God for seeing her team through and seized the opportunity to thank the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria H.E. Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his Renewed Hope Agenda and commitment to strengthening bilateral relations.

  • France 2018: Falconets draw Germany, China, Haiti

    France 2018: Falconets draw Germany, China, Haiti

    Nigeria’s Under 20 girls, Falconets have been drawn in the same pool as perennial foes Germany, China and Haiti in Group D of the 9th FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup taking place in France from August 5 to 24.

    At the Draw Ceremony held inside the Opera House, Rennes yesterday, Africa’s other flagbearers Ghana were thrown into the same Group A as hosts France, New Zealand and The Netherlands.

    Group B is headed by Korea DPR and also has England, Mexico and Brazil, while USA, Japan, Paraguay and Spain will battle it out in Group C.

    Two -time runners up Falconets begin their campaign with a huge test, against Germany at the Stade de Marville in Saint-Malo on August 6. Germany edged Nigeria to lift the trophy the two times Nigeria got to the championship final- in 2010 in Germany and 2014 in Canada.

    Chris Danjuma’s maidens will then be up against Haiti three days later at the same venue, before moving to Dinan-Léhon, where they play China at the Stade du Clos Gastel on August 13.

    Ghana will go up against hosts France in the tournament’s opening match in Vannes August 5. Concarneau is the other city that will host matches during the championship.

    Nigeria’s Group D opponents Haiti will be taking part in their first ever FIFA women’s tournament, and FIFA General Secretary Fatma Samoura said: “I’d like to send my regards and warmly congratulate Haiti, who just qualified for their first ever FIFA women’s tournament, on their remarkable road to France. Well done, girls, for taking this huge step.

    “It’s so encouraging to see these young girls pointing the way forward through football. For FIFA, increasing the participation of women in football is an imperative. The development of women’s football is at the top of our list of priorities in our strategy ‘FIFA 2.0: The Vision for Future’.”France will also host the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals.

     

  • Trump questions taking of immigrants from ‘shithole countries’

    Trump questions taking of immigrants from ‘shithole countries’

    President Donald Trump has questioned why the U.S. would want to have immigrants from Haiti and African nations, referring to some as “shithole countries,” according to two sources familiar with the comments.

    Trump’s remarks, made in the White House, came as Democratic Senator Dick Durbin and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham briefed the president on a newly drafted immigration bill being touted by a bipartisan group of senators, according to the sources, who asked not to be identified.

    Sources said government officials were present during the conversation.

    The lawmakers were describing how certain immigration programs operate, including one to give safe haven in the United States to people from countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife.

    One of the sources who was briefed on the conversation said that Trump said, “Why do we want all these people from Africa here?

    “They’re shithole countries … We should have more people from Norway.”

    The second source familiar with the conversation, said Trump, who has vowed to clamp down on illegal immigration, also questioned the need for Haitians in the United States.

    Many Democrats and some Republican lawmakers slammed the president for his remarks.

    Republican U.S. Representative Mia Love, a daughter of Haitian immigrants, said the comments were “unkind, divisive, elitist, and fly in the face of our nation’s values”.

    Love called on Trump to apologise to the American people and to the countries he denigrated.

    Another Republican Representative, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who was born in Cuba and whose south Florida district includes many Haitian immigrants, said: “Language like that shouldn’t be heard in locker rooms and it shouldn’t be heard in the White House.”

    Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, a frequent Trump critic, said the president’s comment “smacks of blatant racism, the most odious and insidious racism masquerading poorly as immigration policy.”

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    In an apparent response to his critics, Trump took to Twitter late on Thursday night.

    Trump tweeted: “The Democrats seem intent on having people and drugs pour into our country from the Southern Border, risking thousands of lives in the process.

    “It is my duty to protect the lives and safety of all Americans. We must build a Great Wall, think Merit and end Lottery & Chain. USA!”

    The programme that was being discussed at the White House is called Temporary Protected Status.

    In November, the Trump administration decided to end the status for immigrants from Haiti and Nicaragua.

    It gave the approximately 59,000 Haitian immigrants who had been granted the status until July 2019 to return home or legalise their presence in the U.S.

    Nicaraguans were given until January 2019.

    On Monday, Trump moved to end the status for immigrants from El Salvador, which could result in 200,000 Salvadorans legally in the United States being deported, beginning in September of 2019.

    Reuters/NAN

  • Report finds 524,000 killed by extreme weather in last 20 years

    Report finds 524,000 killed by extreme weather in last 20 years

    Haiti, Zimbabwe and Fiji were named as the three countries which suffered most at the hands of extreme weather during 2016 in a climate report published on Thursday.

    Worldwide, some 524,000 people reportedly lost their lives between 1997 and 2016 due to around 11,000 extreme incidents.

    Furthermore, the total global financial loss was estimated at 3.16 trillion U.S. dollars.

    The study, compiled by German global justice organisation Germanwatch based on data from Munich Re NatCatSERVICE, found that the impoverished Caribbean island state Haiti was one of the most affected nations on average between 1997 and 2016 along with Honduras and Myanmar.

    The “Global Climate Risk Index 2018’’ investigated directly measurable impacts such as the number of deaths and economic damage incurred by extreme events such as storms and their direct implications (for example, flooding, landslides).

    Germanwatch underlined the role of anthropogenic climate change in extreme weather, writing that rising surface sea temperatures are thought to intensify storms.

    In particular, the authors emphasised the hardships faced by so-called Small Island Developing States (SIDS), stating that 5 out of the 20 most affected nations in the past two decades belong to this category.

    Both Haiti and Fiji are SIDS.

    Germany is currently co-hosting a world climate conference with the tiny pacific island state of Fiji over a two-week period.

    Both German Chancellor Angel Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are due in Bonn next week to address the gathering, which is being attended by more than 23,000 delegates.

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  • African Drums Festival commences in Abeokuta

    The African Drums Festival commenced in Abeokuta, Ogun, on Thursday with more than 20 cultural troupes from about 13 countries from the continent in attendance.

    The festival, which is an expanded form of the maiden edition of the Nigerian Drums Festival held in Abeokuta in 2016, also drew participants from Haiti and observers from Dallas in the United States.

    The Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in his remarks described the festival as “a development worthy of emulation by other states.’’

    He noted that such festival would further invigorate the strides of the government in tourism investment and development.

    “The Muhammadu Buhari -led administration is determined to pursue with relentless vigour the diversification of our present mono reliance on an oil economy to massive investment in non-oil sectors   like agriculture, solid minerals and tourism.” he said.

    Mohammed, who was represented by the Artistic Director of the National Troupe of Nigeria, Mr Tar Ukor, noted that such festivals would promote pan-African unity and increased inter – African economic trade as well as enhanced local value chain benefits.

    “This festival will also promote inter-African leisure travel and the renaissance of our African cultural milestones in contributing toward  civilisation.

    “It will engender cultural reawakening in Africa on shared values and fraternal solidarity within the region,’’ he said.

    Gov. Ibikunle Amosun said the festival was a platform to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the people of Ogun and to also stamp Nigeria on the world map.

    He gave an assurance that the state would continue to explore different aspects of the Nigerian culture with a view to promoting and preserving them.

    The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, urged states to focus on other aspects of the Nigerian culture with a view to propagating them.

    The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, noted that drums occupy an important place in   Yoruba culture.

    “Drums are used to wake Yoruba monarchs early in the morning reminding them of their oaths to adjudicate among their subjects without fear or favour.

    “Drums are important tools that accompany monarchs and warriors to the warfront and act as source from which they draw encouragement and courage as well as indicate to them when to withdraw or advance into battle.

    “Drums are also used to announce the deaths of some important personalities in Yorubaland,” he said.

    Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, said rhythms from drums “are enchanting.’’

    He described as erroneous the belief that culture involves some demonic and satanic practices.

    Soyinka, who commended the Ogun government for the initiative, noted that many great things in Nigeria began from Ogun.

     

  • USA, Haiti, others to grace African drums festival in Ogun

    USA, Haiti, others to grace African drums festival in Ogun

    … Festival will promote unity, rich culture – Amosun

    Performance troupes and drummers from the United States of America, Haiti, and nine other countries have expressed interest to participate at the second edition of the African Drums Festival this April in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital in Southwest Nigeria.

    Apart from Cuba which would grace the festival as an observer, over 12 Nigerian States have also confirmed readiness to participate.

    These were made known to journalists on Tuesday by the Secretary to the Government of Ogun State, Mr Taiwo Adeoluwa, during a World press briefing about the festival at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

    Adeoluwa said the State would be spending an amount less than N50 million on the Festival.

    The Logo of this year’s African Drums Festival with the theme, “Reviving our Culture in Drums,” was unveiled by Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who was represented by his Deputy, Princess Yetunde Onanuga.

    The Festival is been organised by the State government.

    Adeoluwa cited Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, Congo Brazzaville and Zimbabwe as some of the African countries that would attend the event.

    He explained that the Festival would be both participatory and competitive, saying those who want to compete would opportunity to do so while those who don’t, would enjoy themselves.

    “It will cost the State so little, what we are spending is under N50 million and it is not about the size of the budget. We are using direct labour and we are sourcing for everything locally, we are also leveraging on our friends and supporters who are partnering with us,” he said.

    According to him, the 2017 edition has been expanded to take care of troupes from private and Non – Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

    Before unveiling the festival’s logo, the State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, said the festival would promote unity and showcase the rich cultural heritage of the African continent as well as put the State on the world map.

    Amosun said: “the unique aspect of the festival was the unveiling of the world tallest drum last year. It (festival) received greater acceptance, and it has opened doors for our brothers and sisters from other African countries. It is one way of promoting unity in the continent.”

    The maiden edition of it kicked off in Abeokuta on April 19, 2016 amid glamour as drummers from every part of the country graced the festival.

    While it lasted, the tallest drum in the country, standing at about 16ft was unveiled by the host Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and witnessed by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi and his wife, the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adetona Gbadebo, Senator Momora, representative of the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and the Director General, Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation, Mrs. Sally Mbanefo.

     

  • USA, Haiti, others to grace African drums festival in Ogun

    USA, Haiti, others to grace African drums festival in Ogun

     

    … Festival will promote unity, rich culture – Amosun

     

     

    Performance troupes and drummers from the United States of America, Haiti, and nine other countries have expressed interest to participate at the second edition of the African Drums Festival this April in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital in Southwest Nigeria.

    Apart from Cuba which would grace the festival as an observer, over 12 Nigerian States have also confirmed readiness to participate.

    These were made known to journalists on Tuesday by the Secretary to the Government of Ogun State, Mr Taiwo Adeoluwa, during a World press briefing about the festival at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

    Adeoluwa said the State would be spending an amount less than N50 million on the Festival.

    The Logo of this year’s African Drums Festival with the theme, “Reviving our Culture in Drums,” was unveiled by Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who was represented by his Deputy, Princess Yetunde Onanuga.

    The Festival is been organised by the State government.

    Adeoluwa cited Ghana, Togo, Benin Republic, Congo Brazzaville and Zimbabwe as some of the African countries that would attend the event.

    He explained that the Festival would be both participatory and competitive, saying those who want to compete would opportunity to do so while those who don’t, would enjoy themselves.

    “It will cost the State so little, what we are spending is under N50 million and it is not about the size of the budget. We are using direct labour and we are sourcing for everything locally, we are also leveraging on our friends and supporters who are partnering with us,” he said.

    According to him, the 2017 edition has been expanded to take care of troupes from private and Non – Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

    Before unveiling the festival’s logo, the State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, said the festival would promote unity and showcase the rich cultural heritage of the African continent as well as put the State on the world map.

    Amosun said: “the unique aspect of the festival was the unveiling of the world tallest drum last year. It (festival) received greater acceptance, and it has opened doors for our brothers and sisters from other African countries. It is one way of promoting unity in the continent.”

    The maiden edition of it kicked off in Abeokuta on April 19, 2016 amid glamour as drummers from every part of the country graced the festival.

    While it lasted, the tallest drum in the country, standing at about 16ft was unveiled by the host Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun and witnessed by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi and his wife, the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adetona Gbadebo, Senator Momora, representative of the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed and the Director General, Nigeria Tourism Development Corporation, Mrs. Sally Mbanefo.