Feral Jundi

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Industry Talk: Private Sector Eyes Opportunity In Haiti Rebuilding

   From what I can gather, the IPOA/GIS conference in Miami is going well.  I also want to emphasize that for you owners of small companies, who want to get involved with opportunities in Haiti, then these are the types of conferences you should be attending.  It is also advisable to go to the conference prepared, meaning you have the licenses and you have your company squared away to actually deliver on promises.  Do not be the schmuck that goes to one of these things, and is not prepared or hasn’t a clue on how to put action to words and get boots on the ground.  All eyes are on you, and if you screw up, it gives the entire industry a black eye.

   What will be cool, is if Doug can give an AAR on this conference, and provide some details that the readership might be interested in.  I think it is noteworthy that they only had three weeks or so to put this together, when normally these events take months to plan.  That to me only highlights the flexibility and speed of what the private industry is capable of if properly organized and mobilized.  I witnessed the same reaction of private industry during the Katrina Hurricanes back in 2005, and it is definitely a strength of the industry.  So the next step after this conference, is to see who goes where, and what they are doing. I will keep a watch on it, and see what pops up. –Matt

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Private Sector Eyes Opportunity in Haiti Rebuilding

By Pascal Fletcher

March 10, 2010

Rebuilding Haiti after its catastrophic earthquake should generate major contracts for private companies specializing in construction, logistics, transport and security, but U.S. executives say they need a clear reconstruction strategy to shape their business plans.

Private sector firms that focus on post-conflict or disaster relief operations gathered at a meeting in Miami this week to consider the business opportunities offered by Haiti’s recovery from the January 12 quake that devastated the capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding towns.

With Haiti’s government saying up to 300,000 people may have died, some economists are calling the Haitian quake the deadliest natural disaster in modern times. Relief experts and business leaders agree the mammoth task of rebuilding what was already the Western Hemisphere’s poorest state will be impossible without private sector participation.

“I don’t think they have any option but to get private companies in to help reconstruct Haiti,” Kevin Lumb, CEO of London-based Global Investment Summits Ltd, which organized the Haiti Reconstruction meeting in Miami, told Reuters.

“I think it opens up a great deal of business opportunities. Most of their infrastructure is destroyed, their roads, communications, buildings, it’s obviously affected water supply, electricity, so that all needs rebuilding,” Lumb said.

The Miami summit was also organized by the International Peace Operations Association, a trade group of companies working in conflict, post-conflict and disaster zones.

(more…)

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Haiti: Security Update–What About All Those Thousands Of Escaped Prisoners?

   So this is what I found out after a little bit of hunting for stories.  I wanted to know what the impact of all of those escaped prisoners in Haiti had, and from what I have found out, it ain’t pretty.  These guys are trying to organize gangs in the slums, they are raping women in the relief camps, they are getting back to the business of selling drugs and organizing, and the Haitian police and security forces are still overwhelmed.

   Worse yet, the UN is doing a terrible job of coordinating the relief and security efforts, and all those US and International military teams are leaving in the near future. These criminals are still loose and just counting the days until the good guys leave so they can really ‘go to town’ with their criminal ventures.  The Haitian authorities have tried to get the local populations to turn in these criminals, but because there are so many, it is still a huge issue. Even the Dominican Republic is getting worried about all these folks, and beefing up security efforts to stop them at the borders.

   My thoughts on the whole deal is that private security coupled with the local national security they will hire, could totally help in securing the populations as these military units leave.  They can also help buy some time as law enforcement continues the hunt for these criminals.  And we are not talking about a couple criminals here and there. We are talking about 5,000 to 7,000 escaped criminals, with a good percentage who are violent criminals.  These guys are free, and they will do all they can to take advantage of a country that is in disarray.  And guess what, they are!

   Here is another issue that really irks me.  These reporters who keep ignoring these facts, and continue to slam my industry as being disaster capitalists, are only helping out these criminals.  I have a news flash for you folks, criminals like the idea of ‘less security’ and not ‘more security’.   They also like ‘unorganized security’, as opposed to ‘organized security’.  My industry will provide that organized security, because that is what we do for a profession.  There is nothing dishonorable or unethical about what we do, and in my view that service has value. If these folks don’t want to recognize that value, then they will continue to see a population at risk in Haiti. There will continue to be more rapes, more murders, and more gang/drug related problems during the rebuild of that country.

   My industry is also more adept at working with local national security and getting the job done based on the contract than the UN.  I would suggest that companies like ITG/Steele Foundation, could do a better job of organizing the security effort there than the UN, any day.  Just look at what the UN has done in places like the Congo, and tell me they are the best organization for the job in Haiti? Or better yet, how do you fire the UN if they do a poor job in Haiti?  At least with private industry, you can actually fire poor performing companies.

   One more thing.  It looks like escaped prisoners are one of the main culprits of looting and crime after that earthquake in Chile.  Anyone else seeing a pattern here?  After these quakes, disaster response should include security forces tasked specifically to contain the prisons and recapture these criminals.  Especially if the criminals are violent and criminally insane (which is the case with Haiti).  They are a threat to crippled society and to the relief effort, and to not respond to that during the initial attack and extended attack is pure negligence in my opinion.  We must call upon every resource we can to stop that, to include using private industry, and to not do that is just stupid and irresponsible in my book. But don’t take my word for it, just read all the reports that I have collected for your reading pleasure below. –Matt

P.S. – I posted five stories below, if you are interested in reading the entire update.

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U.N. Is Faulted as Lacking Coordination of Aid and Security in Haiti

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

March 2, 2010

UNITED NATIONS — Humanitarian efforts by the United Nations in Haiti have lacked sufficient coordination with local organizations in delivering aid and establishing security, according to an independent assessment released on Tuesday.

One consequence was a surge in the sexual abuse of women and girls living in camps for the displaced, with some young girls trading sex for shelter, said Emilie Parry, an aid consultant who helped write the evaluation of the United Nations’ effort for Refugees International, a nonprofit organization that advocates on behalf of refugees.

“Women reported to us that there has been a lot of violence and sexual abuse at nighttime,” Ms. Parry said, noting that there is no system of nighttime patrols in the makeshift camps where many displaced people have been living.

“By all accounts, the leadership of the humanitarian country team is ineffectual,” said the report, based on 10 days of evaluations in February. The report, titled “Haiti: From the Ground Up,” also acknowledged that the scale of the disaster made the response a singular challenge.

Closer work with Haitian organizations, as well as better knowledge about conditions, would also enhance the ability of local groups to deal with problems long after the international groups left, Ms. Parry said.

The report suggests a number of ways to improve the delivery of aid, including allowing more participation by Haitian organizations whose leaders are now living among as many as several million displaced earthquake victims.

While the United Nations does not actively discriminate against such groups, it effectively bars them through a lack of advertising and the system of passes that are needed to attend meetings, Ms. Parry said. Appointing liaison officers dedicated to such groups would help, the report suggests.

It also recommended that the United Nations appoint one person responsible for leading the team distributing humanitarian aid in the country, rather than have the responsibility be among many tasks taken on by senior management.

(more…)

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Chile: Looting Sparks Security Concerns In Post-Quake Chile

   No word if any companies will be responding to this disaster. I will assume that Chile has all the security forces it needs with it’s police and military, but you never know.  We will keep a look out for anything that pops up.

   Luckily, Chile’s buildings were better built than what was in Haiti, and that is good.  I am sure they would have had way more deaths if they weren’t. My heart goes out to the victims of this earthquake, and I hope they are able to respond fast enough to save everyone. –Matt

Edit: 3/6/2010 – Thanks to Rosa for sending me this link on an interesting site that compiles all the available news video footage on the event, and does some analysis based on that compilation.  Check it out here.

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Looting Sparks Security Concerns in Post-Quake Chile

Michelle Ruiz

March 1, 2010

Rescuers searched for survivors in the rubble-strewn streets of Chile today as widespread looting sparked security concerns following the earthquake that has killed more than 700 people and displaced more than 2 million. Three more aftershocks hit the country this morning, according to a published report.

“The catastrophe is enormous,” President Michelle Bachelet said at a news conference Sunday, adding that her declared “state of catastrophe” would continue as the Chilean military maintains order in the streets and the air force flies basic supplies to the hardest-hit regions.

“We are confronting an emergency without parallel in Chile’s history,” she said.

In the heavily damaged city of Concepcion, looters descended on supermarkets and electronic stores and police fought them

with tear gas and water cannons.

Firefighters in Concepcion who were ready to lower a rescue worker into the rubble were halted when the scent of tear gas forced them to stop.

“It’s sad, but because of the situation you have to confront the robberies and at the same time continue the search,” police officer Jorge Guerra told The Associated Press.

Bachelet gave the military control of security in the area, where nearly every market had been emptied and no food or drinking water was available, according to the AP. Power outages kept the city in the dark.

“We are overwhelmed,” a police officer told the AP.

Looters reportedly cleared the contents of a shopping mall in San Pedro, even robbing ATM machines and siphoning gas from underground tanks.

(more…)

Friday, February 19, 2010

Haiti: Private Industry To The Rescue!

Filed under: Disaster Response,Haiti — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 1:09 PM

“If Scahill and Klein have the resources, the capabilities, the equipment, to go in and do it themselves then more power to them.” -Doug Brooks, IPOA 

*****

     Your damn right, and good on Doug for calling it like it is. I read through these two articles below, thinking that the authors were actually going to present a convincing argument that what the IPOA and private industry is doing is a bad thing. In fact, I read through both of these articles and thought, ‘ private industry to the rescue’!  So thanks to Anthony Fenton and Jeremy Gantz for actually writing two articles that were inspirational to me, and did the exact opposite of what they intended to do. Critics are funny that way.

   I will explain.  You see all of these critics of the industry continue to complain that private industry is actually doing something about the rebuilding of Haiti.  At face value, that is just ridiculous. Who are they to say that the IPOA or GIS can’t help? Can they help if they are wearing a Che Guevera t-shirt?  Can they only help if they donate their entire savings to the Haitian government, and live on the streets of Vancouver BC begging for money for the rest of their lives?

    To me, the critics have actually taken a pretty immoral stance in my opinion.  If I am the public and reading this stuff, I am thinking ‘where the hell is the money supposed to go anyways’ and ‘who cares if private industry wants to help’?  The public wants action, and they want to make sure that Haiti is getting a good value for the dollar. The donations are supposed to be used for rebuilding and helping Haiti, not for paying aid agency salaries or for aid agency ad campaigns so they can make even more money.  Put that money to work, and lets get going on the rebuild.

   Also, all of these IPOA companies are specialists in rebuilding in the worst kind of disaster zones.  Namely, war.  They provide the specialists, and they also hire local Haitians, and get projects built.  Private industry will be helping government, but they will also be helping other private groups.  Who are the critics to say that private industry cannot participate in that process?  This is how the real world works, and I just shake my head every time I read this stuff.

   Klein is classic though.  The biggest disaster capitalists on this planet, are the media and aid agencies, and yet private industry is the bad guy here?  Pfffft. If anything, Klein lacks the courage to criticize the media or aid agencies, partly because most of her cheerleaders come from those two groups. Not to mention that the media and aid agencies both depend upon my industry to go on their little disaster crusades around the world.

    Naomi is also living in a fairy tale if she thinks that private industry can’t help, or that their ‘cookie cutter’ responses in Iraq or Afghanistan are not helpful to Haiti.  I am still trying to figure out what she means by cookie cutter response, because I have yet to see anything of the sort from any of the companies over in Iraq or Afghanistan.  Actually, they all do things quite differently and approach problems based on their personal experience and capability.  Most are pretty innovative and can certainly get things done.  They have to, if they want to survive in a war zone and be competitive in this market.

   Any way, I wanted to give kudos to the IPOA and GIS for putting the critics in their place, and for all the hard work they have done.  I also want to thank these two journalists for providing examples of what happens when criticism backfires. Especially when they are trying to attack those that are taking action to help Haiti. –Matt

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HAITI:Private Contractors ‘Like Vultures Coming to Grab the Loot’ 

Anthony Fenton

VANCOUVER, Canada, Feb 19 (IPS) – Critics are concerned that private military contractors are positioning themselves at the centre of an emerging “shock doctrine” for earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Next month, a prominent umbrella organisation for private military and logistic corporations, the International Peace Operations Association (IPOA), is co-organising a “Haiti summit” which aims to bring together “leading officials” for “private consultations with attending contractors and investors” in Miami, Florida.

(more…)

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Haiti: Food Convoy Attacked; U.N. Warns Of Volatility

   Folks are just going to get more angry and frustrated as this continues, and that is expected.  But to me, this looks more like an outcome of individuals taking advantage of a weakened state.  They could be part of the crew that escaped from the prison during the quake, and no doubt they will do what they can to take advantage.

   In other news, there is a new weapons policy for government guys heading to Haiti for work.  Check it out here. –Matt

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Haiti food convoy attacked; UN warns of volatility

By PAISLEY DODDS, Associated Press Writer Paisley Dodds,

February 2, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Twenty armed men blocked a road and tried to hijack a convoy of food for earthquake victims, but were driven off by police gunfire, U.N. officials said Tuesday.

The attack on the convoy as it carried supplies from an airport in the southern town of Jeremie underscored what the United Nations calls a “potentially volatile” security situation as frustration has grown at the slow pace of aid since the Jan. 12 earthquake.

Most quake victims are still living outside in squalid tents of sheets and sticks and aid officials acknowedge they have not yet gotten food to the majority of those in need. Mobs have stolen food and looted goods from their neighbors in the camps, prompting many to band together or stay awake at night to prevent raids.

(more…)

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