Cholera catastrophe blamed on UN construction

About 5000 dead, 300,000 ill, and a medical emergency that has already lasted six months. But now the people of Haiti have someone to blame for the cholera outbreak that has swept through their earthquake-ravaged country: the blue-helmeted peacekeepers of the United Nations.

A report into the epidemic, which began last October, has concluded that it was almost certainly caused by a poorly-constructed sanitation system installed at a rural camp used by several hundred UN troops who originally came from Nepal. The virulent strain of cholera bacteria began infecting locals after faecal matter from their base seeped from badly-designed septic pits into the Meye River, a tributary of the Artibonite River in the country's central region.

The river system is used by tens of thousands of mostly-rural Haitians to provide water for drinking, cooking, bathing and washing clothes. When large numbers began falling ill, hospitals were quickly overwhelmed. It was then only a matter of time before the outbreak spread to cities.

Although the report cites a "confluence of circumstances", many beyond the UN's control, the findings will only add to tension between peacekeepers and the citizens of a country which is still barely starting to recover from the worst natural disaster in modern history. The earthquake in January last year left between 200,000 and 300,000 people dead, and 1.5 million homeless.

The UN's glacial response to the initial disaster, and the slow progress of reconstruction efforts - about 750,000 Haitians still live in "temporary" refugee camps - has been a cause of complaint in the capital, Port-au-Prince. With the rainy season approaching, health experts fear cholera could add to their woes by infecting a further 500,000 people.

That would represent a public relations disaster for the UN mission.

Since October, many locals have blamed Nepalese peacekeepers for introducing cholera to their country. Before Christmas, and again last week, the issue sparked protests, with reports of crowds throwing rocks at UN staff.

- Independent