Worst-kept secret in Haiti: the UN's cruise ship hotel
Deep within the labyrinthine complex of huts at the UN logistics base
in Haiti's Capital Port-au-Prince is a small office where staff sign up
to stay on a cruise ship called the Ola Esmeralda.
For some this is smart, out-of-the-box thinking to accommodate aid
workers in a hazardous post-quake environment, for others it is a
blazing symbol of excess that shows just how out of touch the United
Nations is from the task at hand.
There is a second smaller luxury ship, the Sea Voyager, berthed in
port but also offering air-conditioned en suite rooms to hundreds of
staff for a heavily subsidized rate of 40 dollars a night, including
breakfast and dinner.
"It's the best deal in town," a UN worker told AFP on condition of
anonymity, refusing to comment on stories of late-night partying on the
ships but saying the proper rate should be around 150 dollars.
Sea Voyager
A UN coordinator who started living on the Sea Voyager because her
house was destroyed by the quake told AFP she was happy because she had
stopped working endless hours and sleeping in her office.
"Obviously some people are complaining because it is a long way away,
40 minutes by bus, but it's great, how can we complain, we have air-con,
we have food, the mosquitos are under control," she said.
The UN lost a record number of staff in the quake and has worked
extremely hard since to place Haiti on the road to recovery but there is
an obvious danger of perception regarding the bizarre accommodation
arrangement.
The UN peacekeeping force MINUSTAH has long been viewed with
suspicion here by the masses of urban poor and even if there is no other
viable solution, it doesn't look good.
"If the UN is living on a cruise ship, it is the perfect metaphor for
how they are viewed here in the country," said Richard Morse, the
52-year-old owner of Port-au-Prince's iconic Hotel Oloffson.
"If they think quake refugees should be living on cruise ships, then
they should get cruise ships for the Haitian people, that's all I'm
saying. Unless of course I am misinterpreting this and they really are
better than Haitians."
Sarah Muscroft, the Deputy Head of Mission for the UN's Organization
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the reason
ships were being used was because member states insisted on safe housing
for staff.
"That is the reason why there is a boat here because the member
states have basically said you have to have our nationals who work for
you in non-prefab buildings," Muscroft said.
Informed sources told AFP that the 1,200-tonne, 175-foot Sea Voyager
is on a three-month lease that started mid-February, while the Ola
Esmeralda is on a six-month lease from mid-March.
Heyday
The 11,000-tonne, 140-meter (460-foot) long Ola Esmeralda had two
bars, a casino, three restaurants and an outdoor pool back in its heyday
as a cruise ship, when it was known as the Black Prince.
At least one bar still operates, providing UN workers with the chance
to unwind in a secure environment offshore, well away from the putrid
camps where hundreds of thousands of survivors struggle to eke out a
post-quake existence.
Detachment
It is this detachment from the people they are supposed to be trying
to protect that infuriates Morse, who said MINUSTAH should just leave if
they are not going to help the Haitian poor.
"The UN mandate here is to keep the urban poor in check, that's their
mandate here, their mandate is not to keep the elites from being
corrupt, their mandate is not to keep the Haitian government from being
corrupt," he said.
"Maybe not everyone can articulate it, but if you sit down in a
conversation and you are speaking Creole with some people, you are going
to hear them end up criticizing the UN."
Megan B, a medical officer on the Sea Voyager described on her blog
site on February 16 the first arrivals for the floating hotel.
"15 UN people came aboard for the night. They were so excited just to
be able to take a shower, and have water that stayed warm.
The following Sunday she wrote: "Most of the people spend time in the
bar, and do that each night. After working all day in Haiti, so would I.
These people like to party. That is for sure."
Muscroft said the UN was well aware of the problems of perception but
admitted: "In reality it's quite difficult to make sure that that is at
the forefront of what we're doing all the time." AFP
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