ENSLAVED Africans arrived centuries ago in the Americas. In the worst forced migration of all time, the transatlantic slave trade took some of these men, women and children to Kiskeya, also known as Hispaniola, the island in the Caribbean Sea shared today by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
On August 14, 1791 in the forest of Bois Caïman, the voodoo priest Boukman organised a ceremony. On that night, enslaved participants solemnly vowed that servitude would be doomed, taking the oath to fight or die.
They would later obey the orders of Toussaint Louverture in the revolt masterminded by the remarkable leader. His victory against one of the worst crimes ever committed against humanity was sung by great poets like Aimé Césaire.
On January 1, 2023 the first black republic celebrates the 219th anniversary of its glorious independence. However, the Pearl of the Antilles is dying.
Haiti was obliged to pay a ransom to France as compensation to French slave owners for lost property, otherwise slavery would be re-imposed and Haiti invaded. In May 2022, the New York Times published a series of well researched articles titled The Ransom: Haiti Lost Billions, which narrates this perfidy.
Port-au-Prince has so far paid up to $115 billion to France. Bad governance, corruption and invasions added to an already unbearable burden for the Haitian people. Moreover, the American military occupation, from 1915 to 1934, had a major bank in New York as its main financial backer.
Haiti seems close to sinking. The security situation is dire. Famine affects nearly five million people. Shortly after the 2010 earthquake, an epidemic of cholera imported by UN blue helmets broke out in Haiti when no case had been detected there for more than a century.
Faced with these accusations, the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, had the courage and integrity to issue an official apology. Today, the resurgence of cholera brings more death.
On December 21, 2022 speaking to the Security Council, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina J. Mohammed, stated: ‘Haiti is in a deepening crisis of unprecedented scale and complexity that is cause for serious alarm.’ The police are either overwhelmed or complicit. The Haitian army, that not-so-distant Macoute memory, was dismantled by the international community in the 1990s. Demobilised soldiers were never adequately reintegrated into society. The judicial system is moribund.
To date,
the international community has only been able to finance less than 20 per cent of current humanitarian needs in Haiti, while elsewhere in the world, billions of dollars are generously flowing to alleviate other humanitarian crises.
However, Haiti should not be seen only as a tragic and brutal tale. The country is blessed with magnificent creativity and sustained by remarkable hope. Haiti has always been culturally bright and intellectually challenging.
The greatest tragedies, such as the 2010 earthquake, have certainly killed and maimed many, destroying infrastructure. But these tragedies have not shaken the soul of this amazing and endearing country. Like the intrepid Haitian woman, Haiti astonishingly remains standing, and its culture vibrant.
The international community, regional organisations, academia, media, communications gatekeepers, the private sector, the Haitian comprador bourgeoisie all have a responsibility for Haiti. Haitians are very brave people.
The international community was called upon to step in and fight the gangs. In the light of past failures, one can honestly wonder if a foreign military intervention in Haiti would bring a lasting solution.
Either way, inertia is not an option. We support Haitian citizens who want an end to anarchy and violence; who want justice. We launch this urgent appeal: let us act now, with a new and genuine benevolence, whatever the risks, and without individual geopolitical intentions.
History will not be kind to those who remain inactive or who choose to look elsewhere. That would be non-assistance to a people in danger.
Let us respond to the poetic exhortation of Jean Métellus. From his exile a few decades ago, his poem was a beautiful cry, Au pipirite chantant or When the Pipirite Sings. His lament has not aged a bit. It is the plea from the
Haitian peasant who at the singing pipirite,
despises memory and manufactures projects
Revokes the past braided by plagues and smokes
And from daybreak he tells his glory on the cool galleries of young shoots.
We stand with Haitians. Let us act now. For Haiti, for humanity.
(*) Signatories:
Adama Dieng, initiator of the Op-Ed, is a former United Nations Under Secretary-General.
Macky Sall, President of Senegal, Chairperson of the African Union.
José Ramos-Horta, President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste; co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize.
Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission; former Prime Minister of Chad.
Alpha Oumar Konaré, former President of Mali.
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, former President of Nigeria.
Catherine Samba-Panza, former President of the Central African Republic.
The Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, former Governor General of Canada; former UNESCO Special Envoy to support reconstruction efforts in Haiti.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former Deputy President of South Africa.
Epsy Alejandra Campbell Barr, former Vice-President of Costa Rica; President of the Permanent Forum of People of African Descent.
Graça Machel, Chair of the Board, Graça Machel Trust.
Miguel Ángel Moratinos; former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Co-operation.
Sir Dennis Byron, former President of the Caribbean Court of Justice; former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
Serge Letchimy, President of the Executive Council of Martinique and former member of the National Assembly of France.
Frederico Mayor, former Director-General of UNESCO; Chairman of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace.
Brig. Mujahid Alam (Retired), Principal at Lawrence College, Ghora Gali, Murree, Pakistan.
Sonia Maria Barbosa Dias, Education Specialist, São Paulo, Brazil.
Mbaranga Gasarabwe, former Deputy Special Representative for the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).
Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Director of the Institute of African Studies and Professor of French and Philosophy at Columbia University.
Andrew Thompson, Professor of Global Imperial History at the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford.
Othman Mohamed, former Chief Justice of Tanzania and Chair of the Commission of Inquiry into the death of Dag Hammarskjöld.
Amadou Lamine Sall, Recipient of the 2018 edition of the Tchicaya U Tam’si Prize for African Poetry.
Sheila Walker, PhD, Author; Cultural anthropologist and documentary filmmaker; Executive Director of Afrodiaspora, Inc.
Jean-Victor Nkolo, former Spokesperson for three Presidents of the UN General Assembly; served in 10 UN peacekeeping operations, including in Haiti.
Euzhan Palcy, Film director, writer and producer (Martinique, France).
Bacre Waly Ndiaye, Lawyer at the Senegal Bar; former member of the Truth and Justice Commission in Haiti.
Willem Alves Dias, Film Editor, Brazil.
René Lake, Journalist and expert in internation
al development.
Doudou Diène, Senegalese jurist; former United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.
Justice Ben Kioko, former Vice President of the African Court of Human and Peoples Rights.
Aver-Dieng Ndaté, Lawyer at the Geneva Bar; Vice-President of the African Peace Conference.
Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder-Kone, Actress and philanthropist; art collector; HIV/AIDS activist; co-founder of the Boribana Museum in Dakar.
Akere Tabeng Muna, Barrister and International Legal Consultant on Governance and Anti-Corruption.
