With a UN envoy urging an end to protests in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, underdog presidential candidates have called for an election delay to focus on a cholera epidemic that has claimed nearly 1,200 lives.
The plea by a top UN official in the impoverished nation came as preparations for the November 28 national poll to choose President Rene Preval's successor pressed ahead, despite violent clashes with the peacekeepers and the postponement call by four candidates.
It also came as a French cholera expert advising Haitian health authorities warned that the "unusual" month-old epidemic could be far more severe than figures suggest, with substantial parts of the country not yet reached by health workers.
"Every second that passes can save or break thousands of lives," Edmond Mulet, head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, said Friday.
Demonstrators must stop blocking roads, bridges and airports so that vital humanitarian assistance can reach the thousands of people affected by the epidemic, which has killed at least 1,186 people, he said.
Humanitarian workers said the protests eased a little Friday but that aid agencies were still not working in the northern city of Cap Haitien, where the major violence erupted this week.
"Oxfam was still unable to reach the area where we would like to start work in Cap Haitien," said Louis Bellanger, a New York spokesman for the aid group. "There are still some road blocks and local authorities advised us not to go in."
Stone-throwing youths on Thursday raced through the streets of fetid camps built for earthquake survivors, as peacekeepers in armored trucks fired tear gas on the crowds in running clashes that lasted several hours.
On Friday, youths threw rocks at military trucks in downtown Port-au-Prince while soldiers responded with volleys of tear gas.
UN officials have said that the demonstrations are being "orchestrated" ahead of the elections.
"If this situation continues, more and more patients in desperate need of care are likely to die and more and more Haitians awaiting access to preventive care may be overtaken by the epidemic," warned Mulet.
UN agencies have made several pleas for an end to the violence which they have said is threatening lives as the epidemic spreads.
The unrest is preventing the UN's World Food Program from providing daily hot meals to 190,000 children in schools in Cap Haitien in the north-east, officials said.
Rumors have swirled for weeks that the cholera emanated from septic tanks at a base for Nepalese UN peacekeepers in central Haiti, leaking into the Artibonite River where locals drink, wash clothes and bathe.
The UN says it tested some of the Nepalese and found no trace of cholera, while health officials say it is impossible to know and the focus must be on containing the epidemic and not divining its source.
The unrest is especially worrying as the UN peacekeepers are scheduled to help organize and preside over the elections.
Authorities have maintained that the election is set for November 28, but four candidates — Josette Bijou, Gerard Blot, Garaudy Laguerre and Wilson Jeudy — sought a poll delay.
"We urge authorities to postpone the date of the elections, and to establish and publish a plan to battle the cholera epidemic that threatens the lives of all Haitians," the presidential hopefuls, none of whom is a frontrunner in the polls, said in a joint statement released late Friday.
Prominent candidates have urged the elections be held as scheduled, to avoid further political crises.
"It is not reasonable to talk of postponement. We are at a point where people are willing to go vote," argued frontrunner Mirlande Manigat.
Meanwhile French expert Gerard Chevallier said the country needs to focus on trying to halt the spread of the disease.
"The mechanics of the epidemic are unusual, swift and severe," Chevallier told AFP. "The whole country is not affected, but the epidemic will spread."
He stressed that the official death toll was likely "under-assessed."
"Reports are imperfect. There are areas where people die and nobody knows," Chevallier said. "Two thirds of the territory is accessible only on foot."
Three cases have been found in the neighboring Dominican Republic, including a newborn baby and her grandmother in the capital Santo Domingo — who have never been to Haiti.
Two cases have appeared in the US state of Florida — both from people who traveled from Haiti.
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