Haiti

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Uncertain wait for Haiti kidnapping accused

February 5, 2010 -- Ten U.S. missionaries face a long wait behind bars after being charged with child abduction and conspiracy for trying to smuggle 33 children out of quake-hit Haiti. In a case that has overshadowed the massive international relief effort, the Americans have been formally charged with "kidnapping minors and criminal association," according to their lawyer, Edwin Coq. The five men and five women - who had arrived at the court in confident mood with their luggage packed - bowed their heads in prayer in the back of a jeep as they were returned to police detention. Detained a week ago, they now face a long pre-trial detention, as Haitian law gives the prosecution three months to draw up its case. If convicted, they could face nine years in prison for child kidnapping and further jail time for conspiracy. They have denied ill intent, saying they were only trying to help children abandoned after the devastating January 12 quake that killed an estimated 212,000 people and left at least a million homeless. Justice Minister Paul Denis says he sees "no reason" why the group from the Idaho-based Baptist charity New Life Children's Refuge should be sent to the United States for trial. "It is Haitian law that has been violated," he said. "It is up to Haitian authorities to hear and judge the case." As they were escorted into the jeep, some tried to cover their faces with a black jacket. Haitian journalists whipped it off and one threw a stone before being stopped by police. The case has sparked outrage in impoverished Haiti where child-trafficking was already rife before the 7.0-magnitude quake struck. The U.S. missionaries were held as they attempted to cross into the Dominican Republic with a busload of 33 children aged from two months to 12 years. It has emerged many of the children have living parents or relatives, some of whom may have personally handed them over for a better life.

The quake left much of the capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding area in rubble, in what Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive has described as "a disaster on a planetary scale." He told CNN the toll of 212,000 dead was likely to rise "a little bit" as recovery crews pull bodies from areas where demolition had been delayed while rescue teams searched for survivors. The figure is already the highest on record of any natural disaster in the Americas. On the streets, anger is growing at the slow pace of aid distribution with food and tents in short supply, many people still living in makeshift shelters and violence stalking rudimentary camps. "The Haitian government doesn't exist for us," said 39-year-old Beatrice St Julien. The United States, which is spearheading the relief efforts, has deployed 20,000 troops, helicopters and transport planes, but coordination problems and the sheer scale of the disaster have hampered aid distribution. There have been no more miracle rescues of survivors trapped under rubble, and non-stop coverage on the world's 24-hour news networks has dissipated. Bellerive says more than 300,000 people had been injured and the number of homeless may be far higher than the one million previously estimated. In Bleze Line's neighborhood, where he said the majority of residents were killed, survivors complain that food aid is insufficient. "There are only 40 cards to get food," he said, referring to vouchers that allow for a half-sack, or about 25 kilograms, of rice. "There are 107 families here. There are families with 10 people." Aid groups have set up several refugee camps in and around Port-au-Prince, and the government has announced plans to relocate hundreds of thousands into new temporary shelters outside. Meanwhile, Haitian authorities say police have arrested 100 of the 4,000 inmates who escaped from Port-au-Prince's main jail when it was flattened.

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American charged in Haiti had some troubles in Idaho

MERIDIAN, Idaho, February 5, 2010 — The leader of the group of Americans charged on Thursday with abducting children in Haiti is an Idaho businesswoman with a complicated financial history that involves complaints from employees over unpaid wages, state liens on a company bank account and lawsuits in small claims court. The leader, Laura Silsby, defaulted last July on the mortgage on a house in an unfinished subdivision here in Meridian, a suburb of Boise, according to the Ada County Tax Assessor’s Office. Yet in November, Ms. Silsby registered a new nonprofit, the New Life Children’s Refuge, at the address of the house, which she bought in 2008 for $358,000. New Life Children’s Refuge is the name of the orphanage Ms. Silsby and the nine other Americans charged in Haiti said they had planned to establish in the Dominican Republic. Ms. Silsby lost the house in Meridian to foreclosure on December 7, records show, and it now stands empty, with signs in the yard promoting a foreclosure sale. “I get mail for her all the time,” said LaChelle Bohner, who lives two doors down from the house. Ms. Bohner said the mail included collection notices.

Ms. Silsby and her business, Personal Shopper, which provides shopping services for Internet customers, have faced multiple legal claims. According to state records and officials, Personal Shopper has been named 14 times in complaints from employees over unpaid wages. Among the reasons cited by the employees for having not been paid were “no money for payroll” and “fully investor funded and investors have been hit hard by the economy.” Employees won nine of the cases, forcing Personal Shopper to pay nearly $31,000 in wages and $4,000 in fines. The Idaho Department of Labor initially put liens on a company bank account to get the money. “They didn’t like that so they said: ‘How much do we owe? We’ll pay it,’ ” said Bob Fick, a spokesman for the department, adding that unpaid wage complaints were not uncommon. State officials said Personal Shopper had paid all the wage claims upheld by the state. But another former employee has sued Personal Shopper in civil court. A jury trial is set for February 22 over a claim by the employee, Robin Oliver, that Personal Shopper owes her more than $22,000. A lawyer for Ms. Silsby said Thursday that he could not comment on the case.

One of the people awarded unpaid wages was Chris Holmes, who said he was not surprised that Ms. Silsby had run into trouble in Haiti. Mr. Holmes, who did database work, said Ms. Silsby often showed a “lack of forethought,” shifting business models to suit the investors who kept the company afloat. “She would come up with an idea on Wednesday, and on Friday there would be a new idea that was 180 degrees different,” Mr. Holmes said. In 2006, Ms. Silsby received a Femtor Award for “Businesswoman of the Year”; the awards are sponsored by the eWomenNetwork, a group that promotes women and their businesses. Ms. Silsby, who has young children in Idaho, was divorced in 2007. She and her former husband lived in Meridian, but public records were not clear about where she currently resides. The offices of Personal Shopper, in an office park in Meridian, have been shuttered this week, with mail dating to at least last week stacked on the floor. Clint Henry, pastor of Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, where five of the Americans charged in Haiti attend services, said Ms. Silsby had attended his church for about two years. “You wouldn’t find any finer Christian people than these people,” Mr. Henry said in an interview earlier this week.

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Haitian lawyer: Nine Baptists were conned

February 6, 2010 -- It wasn't until police stopped a bus carrying the Haitian children near the border of the Dominican Republic that the nine other Baptists working with Laura Silsby realized that the Boise woman lacked the documents needed to take the children out of Haiti, said Edwin Coq, lawyer for all 10 Baptists. Silsby knew all along that she lacked the paperwork she needed but led the group to the border anyway, Coq said in a telephone interview with the Idaho Statesman through a translator. "When she was arrested at the border, she told police she was authorized by the consul general (of the Dominican Republic) to leave the country," Coq said. "They called the consul general on speaker phone and he said, 'Laura, I already told you not to leave the country.'"

All 10 Americans are charged with kidnapping, which carries a sentence of five to 15 years in prison, and criminal association, punishable by three to nine years. Coq contends the nine besides Silsby did nothing wrong and came with the good intention of helping children suffering after the January 12 earthquake that devastated much of Port-au-Prince. They are not child abductors, said Coq, himself a Baptist who was contacted by a pastor from a Baptist church in Haiti to represent the Americans. "There is no way they can be accused of such a cruel thing," Coq said. A Haitian judge Friday heard Coq's request for a provisional release of the detainees pending their trial. Haiti has no bail.

There is still a chance that some or all of the detainees will be freed while they await trial. The judge on Friday said he needs more time to review that request, Coq said. The judge plans to hear testimony from the detainees Monday, review it Tuesday and release his opinion Wednesday, the attorney said. He said all 10 detainees are already considered guilty under Haitian law, which is based on the Napoleonic Code that once governed the French empire when Haiti was a slave colony. That's unlike the United States, where the accused are considered innocent until proved guilty.

Eight of the 10 are Idahoans, five from the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian and three from the Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls. Silsby, who attends Central Valley, spearheaded the effort to move the children to the neighboring Dominican Republic as part of a plan to build an orphanage there. The Baptists say they are missionaries who sought to rescue children orphaned by the quake. They've offered conflicting accounts about whether they sought to let some or all of the children be adopted. Haiti has long been concerned about child trafficking across the Dominican border. In 2005, UNICEF estimated that 30,000 Haitian children were trafficked across the border to work in the sex industry and other positions of forced servitude.

On Friday, the 10 detainees were split, with the five men going to the national penitentiary and the women going to a women's jail, Coq said. Coq met the group for the first time at the central police station Wednesday when they met with the judge to open the case, he said. Conditions in the jails are precarious as a result of the earthquake, and the Idahoans have a lot of mosquito bites to show for their stay so far, Coq said. They aren't able to contact their families because there are no telephones in jail, he said. "Their main concern is for them to regain their freedom," he said.

At least 22 of the children, ranging in age from 2 to 12, have parents. Some of the parents told The Associated Press they gave them up willingly because the Baptists promised the children a better life. "Obviously this is a matter for the Haitian judicial system," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday. Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, now a special U.N. envoy to Haiti, met with President Rene Preval in Port-au-Prince on Friday but said his visit had nothing to do with the detained Americans. Later, Bill Clinton said the U.S. and Haitian governments should try to resolve the issue quickly. "I think what's important now is that the government of Haiti and the government of the United States to get together and go through this because the government of Haiti, as I understand it, is not looking for a fight. They just want to protect children," he said during a visit to an AIDS clinic.

Clint Henry, the pastor at Central Valley, also called for Haiti to free the group. "We believe that the very best thing that could happen - not only for our loved ones who we miss dearly, but also for the people of Haiti - is for their government to release them as quickly as possible, allowing the world's attention to be focused where it should be, on helping a nation that experienced a devastating earthquake," Henry said in a statement posted on the church's Web site. He urged people wishing to help to contribute to the "10 Americans Support Fund" at any U.S. Bank office.

Three national leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention sent a letter Friday to President Obama urging him to "do everything within the authority of your office to secure a safe return home" for the detainees. The leaders added that they could not "speak authoritatively about the motives and actions" of those detained, saying they went to Haiti on their own and weren't part of the Southern Baptist Convention's international relief efforts. Most of the children were from the village of Callebas, where people said they handed the kids over because they couldn't feed or clothe them. Their stories contradicted Silsby's account that the children came from collapsed orphanages or were handed over by distant relatives.

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يعمل لدى البنك الدولي ومقيم بكندا
خبير دولي جزائري من بني صاف مفقود في زلزال هايتي

Séisme de Haïti :
Un consultant algérien pour la Banque mondiale porté disparu

Porté disparu depuis le 12 janvier :
Le corps du consultant algérien retrouvé sous les décombres de l’hôtel

Lundi 15 Février 2010 -- Ce n’est qu’avant-hier samedi que le corps de Belhachemi Boucif, consultant international algérien porté disparu depuis le 12 janvier dernier suite au violent séisme qui a frappé l’île de Haïti, fut retrouvé après 32 jours de déblaiement. En effet, le corps de la victime originaire de Béni-Saf, dans la wilaya de Aïn Témouchent, était enfoui sous les décombres de l’hôtel Montana de cinq étages, totalement démoli, situé à Port-au-Prince où il résidait. Selon un proche de sa famille, la dépouille mortelle sera rapatriée via le Canada et sera enterrée auprès de ses proches à Béni-Saf. Il est utile de rappeler que le défunt Belhachemi Boucif âgé de 61 ans était installé au Canada depuis 1993 où il travaillait pour le compte de la Banque mondiale.