Guardian

In the absence of a credible and competent central government, violence has spread from Port-au-Prince to other regions including the Artibonite Valley and the Central Plateau.  According to ACLED, 6000 people died in violent dearths in 2025 with 1.4 million people, ten percent of the population, internally displaced.  The gangs are also maintaining a presence along key transit routes including those that run into and out of Port-au-Prince and into the Dominican Republic.  In this way they can expand by trafficking guns, drugs, and "taxing" commerce.  The full article on the worsening security situation by Harriet Barber in the Guardian follows. 

The United Kingdom and the United States are blocking the re-purposing of leftover UN funds already designated for Haiti that could potentially support woefully under-resourced cholera response programming.  As the United Nations now acknowledges, although only as of last year, UN Peacekeeping Forces brought cholera to Haiti.  The epidemic affected hundreds of thousands of Haitians and killed 10,000.  To not allow unused funds to the cholera effort is both misugided and mean-spirited.  Friends of Haiti in both the United States and the United Kingdom should make their voices heard to their elected officials on this important issue.  The full article in The Guardian follow.  

Below is an article by Rashmee Roshan Lall of the Guardian concerning the Haitian government's plan to promote the planting of 50 million trees a year. The success of this campaign will largely depend upon giving people accessible, affordable alternatives to charcoal.  Other countries have launched successful reforestation campaigns - hopefully, Haitian government and civil society can now do the same.