Sunday 29 February: Port-au-Prince

0700: It really seems that Aristide left the country. We are trying to find confirmation on the radio or TV. Nothing.

As the radio finally announces the news, crowds of people spill on to the street.

For the second time after Cap Haitien I see people celebrating on the one hand, and others silent and frightened on the other.

We do not know if an international force is already in the city.

We hear on our radio handsets that all UN staff absolutely cannot leave their residences.

From this house it is difficult to see well what is going on downtown. From where we are the reaction is more moderate.

I would like just to know what the Haitian people are thinking.

I look at the young guard resting at the gate. He has a small radio between his hands, and exchanges nervous glances with the other guard of the house in front.

What is he going to tell him? Is there any new hope? Or have his hopes just been dashed?

Call for democracy

Humanitarian workers and the international community now have a big responsibility to guarantee a durable peace and national reconciliation.

They have to move the Haitian people from their actual status of poverty towards sustainable development.

I think that after 200 years of independence but also after 32 coups d'Etat, Haiti really needs to find a real democracy.

WFP wants to start moving food as soon as possible. We want to help the weakest and most vulnerable to survive, to give them the energy to produce their own food and rebuild a better Haitian nation.

We spend the rest of the afternoon looking at the balcony and preparing documents.

Our information officer is handling endless calls from media requesting information while thinking about his wife. He is just married.

1700: The UN radio handset informs us about a curfew from 1800 until 0800. Only the police and the military can move in the city.

2100: We hear a lot of shooting and a house is burning nearby. People are settling scores.

I hope that tomorrow will be a more peaceful day. Maybe we will wake up in a city already controlled by international forces.

Saturday 28 February: Port-au-Prince

0700: Maybe another day of confusion.

One thing is sure: the violence in the city is increasing, violence produced to frighten people, not to defend something against someone.

The regional logistics officer is already working on the document for the special operation that WFP should start in a few days.

0900: The situation seems almost calm so we go to the office to check our e-mail.

In the city it is difficult to move. Small tracks have been opened through some of the barricades and the cars have to pass one by one.

The smell of burnt rubber is everywhere from burning tyres.

Communications

1300: We go back home. It is grey, humid and hot. Everybody is a bit nervous because of the waiting.

The phone communications with Cap Haitien have been reactivated.

The staff there call me to see if we are okay. They also inform me that the distribution plan for the most needed areas has been prepared.

The last important information concerns the fact that the passage through the river at Tru du Nord village has been reopened.

Finally communications between the north and north-east departments seems possible.

2100: We have a dinner and then as usual we go to the veranda to talk.

People say that the rebels tomorrow will gain control of the city.

The rebel leader Guy Philippe had said that because Sunday is his birthday he wants a nice party.

Today the city has power but this does not help the fact that there is a lot of shooting.

A small group of people are breaking wood to make a big fire in the middle of one of the streets.

2400: We receive a phone call informing us that it seems the president is leaving or that he has already left the country. It is not confirmed.

I go to sleep but wake in the middle of the night because of gunfire near our house. I am nervous and have trouble sleeping.

Friday 27 February: Port-au-Prince

This morning we went to the office a bit later for security reasons.

At the office we work on the security plan for the staff and the emergency operation.

In the city tension is running high. All internationals not involved in humanitarian work want to leave the country.

1300: We receive news of looting and clashes between armed groups.

For security reasons we have to go back to our residences.

To facilitate the operation in case of evacuation the six WFP international staff left decide to stay together during the weekend in the house of the country director.

1830: It is almost dark and the city is completely blocked by the barricades and by many people in civilian clothes heavily armed, patrolling all the streets.

The barricades in Haiti are made of debris and carcasses of cars or trucks, but also old fridges.

Usually nearby the barricades two or three tires burn all night just to create black smoke and give off an acid smell.

Power cut

2000: All WFP staff are together. We eat something and then move to the veranda, where we can see part of the town.

Everybody is asking himself the same question: what will happen during the next few hours?

Everybody goes to sleep early. We hear shots coming from different areas.

As usual the power is cut in the city. Now everything is dark.

From the balcony we can only see the red lights flashing on the top of the big radio antennas.

2200: Some telephone calls. Still unverified news but, apparently, the rebels are arriving.

Will the capital be taken tonight? I don't think so.

In Port-au-Prince there are many arms and the rebels seems to be few.

I think they will wait for the resignation of the president.

2330: It starts raining. If I know Haiti even a bit, the war will not happen tonight.

Thursday 26 February: Port-au-Prince

1330: A radio message tells all UN personal to go back to our residences.

We don't know what is going on. It seems the head of the rebels has declared an imminent attack at Port-au-Prince and asked the inhabitants to stay home to avoid incidents. It could be just a rumour but until now everything the rebels have said has come true.

Now the target is the capital and of course government forces will put up a strong resistance.

I come back to the hotel and switch on the TV to listen to the news on the national channel but there are just cartoons. Maybe it is a sign that something is happening.

The journalists at the hotel are confused and are trying to confirm unverified news. Some say Aristide is leaving, others say it is not true. Some say the rebels are already in the city. It is all only guesswork.

All I hope is that even if it is late in the day the international community will be able to negotiate a peaceful solution to avoid more victims.

There are many guns in the country. Some are in the hands of people who know very well how to use them. Others are in the hands of people that don't, who don't know why they have been given them.

Negotiating capacity

The WFP office is organising an operation to respond at the needs of the country especially in the north, which is the most vulnerable. But the logistics of organising such an operation is very complicated because of security.

We can send medicine because the people are not interested in that, but if the trucks have food, there is a danger they will be attacked.

Even in normal circumstances, travel in Haiti is very difficult. The country is very mountainous and the roads are just destroyed tracks with a lot of sharp stones and holes.

For example, it is just 75km from Cap Haitien to the Dominican border. The trip takes about five hours if the weather is OK. If it rains it is impossible to pass.

In addition, many of these roads are interrupted or blocked by the rebels.

We need good negotiating capacity and efficient means of transport if our food is to arrive in time for the right people.

We need to feed the orphans, pregnant and lactating mothers too skinny to grow their babies and people affected by HIV/Aids as well as the kids at the schools.

In normal circumstances in Haiti there are few private transport companies with inadequate vehicles that are more often at the garage than on the road. Now with this situation it is even more difficult to find reliable companies that also have fuel.

All I hope is that this situation will give a bit more visibility to a country too often forgotten and that it will sensitise the donor community to provide more resources for Haiti.

It is difficult to believe that a small island in the middle of the Caribbean can exist with so many problems of malnutrition and poverty.

Before arriving I thought that it was an exaggeration to consider Haiti the poorest country in the northern hemisphere.

I can now verify that Haiti is really very poor. There is no technology.

Everything that is produced is done with very primitive means. Most of the people use firewood made with the last remaining trees, sold by old women who bring it to the urban areas at weekends on the back of old donkeys.

The people in the city live in overcrowded shantytowns. They have no work. Haiti depends economically on the informal market of the Dominican Republic and the money sent by immigrants to their families left behind.

In contrast to the majority of countries in Africa that still don't know the products of our consumer society, Haiti knows them very well.

The American continent is only a few hours away by boat. The abundance that exists elsewhere can be seen by the vast quantities of plastic debris that washes up on the island's beautiful beaches.

2100: As we eat our dinner in the hotel we hear some gunfire in the capital.

2200: I go to bed early.

Wednesday 25 February: Port-au-Prince

0800: In the office we are trying to decide which routes to use to get food into the island's poorest and most isolated areas.

I have made radio contact with our local staff in Cap Haitien and they say everything is under control and the city is getting back to some kind of normality.

They have even found one of our lorries, which had been stolen. The empty warehouse has been shut down and put under armed guard.

Now bad news starts to come in from Port-au-Prince. The main entry roads have been barricaded and some warehouses have been attacked.

Tuesday 24 February:
Cap Haitien / Port-au-Prince

0530: With the return of the rebel soldiers, we receive confirmation that there has been no government reaction and that control of the city has been secured.

When I ask if it is possible to go to the airport, they say the road is clear and there will be no problem.

The city is completely deserted. All we can hear are many, many guns going off
Andrea, Cap Haitien

We wait for about an hour for the aeroplane to arrive. We leave for Port-au-Prince.

0900: I am back in the office and already starting to work getting food to the poor people isolated on the northern part of the island, who are hungry.
Even though our warehouse has been looted, there is some food left in Cap Haitien, but we can't say the same for the small villages in the countryside where the people are dirt poor.

If we can't get back in touch with these people over the next few days, the situation is going to get even worse.

Monday 23 February: Cap Haitien

0630: I get confirmation via our radio system that the warehouse has been looted and that hundreds of people are carrying away the food by whatever means possible.

In a few hours 800 tons of food is taken. I do not use the word stolen because in a moment of anarchy the poor take anything they can.

0900: I get the news that the crowd also want to go into our offices and loot them as well.

I talk again with the rebel leader and try to explain that the United Nations is neutral and that it would not send out a good message to the rest of the world if they loot a UN office.

The leader says he has nothing against the UN and sends a group of his men to protect our offices and everything remains calm until the evening.

I wait to see how the situation develops. Using the satellite phone (the normal phones don't work) I talk to our main Haiti office in Port-au-Prince to see if we can arrange a plane for myself and two local staff to go to the capital.

1800: We get the news that President Aristide has sent reinforcements and that there will be a response.

The rebel leaders have a meeting. In less than half-an-hour, they leave the hotel to patrol the city.

It is eerily quiet and no one knows what is going on. Everyone is frightened now and the city is deserted.

I receive confirmation from Port-au-Prince that a plane is coming to pick us up and that, if possible, I must be at the airport for 0730. Contrary to what we thought, the night passes quietly.

Sunday 22 February: Cap Haitien

0730: We hear some gunfire on the outskirts of Cap Haitien. It gets heavier and heavier as the minutes pass.

0930: The city is completely deserted. All we can hear are many, many guns going off. I am in the hall of the hotel.

1130: The gunfire dies down and the police station is burning as well as the neighbouring prison. The rebels have taken control of the city.

A flood of people rush into the streets cheering and, at the same time, grabbing everything they can lay their hands on.

The Mont Joly Hotel dominates the city and, from the hotel window, I can see the crowd enter the port and open containers and warehouses. In a few hours they take everything that is edible or of any value at all.

The flames at the police station and prison have died down and turned into smoke.

Just as we start to relax, a cheering crowd of people arrive at the hotel. Around 100 well-armed militiamen take their positions in the hall.

I and the few other people present remain seated at the bar. The head of the rebels Guy Philippe introduces himself and assures us that the worst is over and that in a day the city would be calm again.
The day passes in an orderly manner, with the soldiers changing shifts and taking it in turns to wash and eat.

I am in touch with the rest of Cap Haitien's WFP staff by radio. Unfortunately, none of them has any news of our warehouse and there are rumours that the people are getting ready to loot it.

I ask the head of the rebels to guarantee the safety of the warehouse, explaining that the food is for the poorest, most vulnerable Haitians and not for trade.

He replies that he will do his best, but that because it is the first night, his priority is to secure control of the city. The night passes without event.