PERSONALLY ENGAGING ON HAITI

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000096 E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL MARR HA AE SUBJECT: PERSONALLY ENGAGING ON HAITI REF: STATE 05277 ¶1. (U) Al Khaleej, an Arabic language daily with a pan-Arabist political orientation ran a front page article on January 20, 2010 with the headline: "Haiti comes under militarization and its children become slaves." (text follows at para 4 below) ¶2. (SBU) IAW with reftel instructions, Ambassador called Editor Raed Al-Barqawi to complain about the very misleading coverage of US humanitarian initiatives. Ambassador explained the rationale for using self-deploying US military forces (as well as civilian assets) and corrected the misperceptions of changes in US immigration policies, which were also intended to alleviate human suffering. Barqawi said he was also unhappy with the headline, and said it had been written after he left the newsroom. He promised to take (unspecified) corrective action. Ambassador offered to provide additional factual information on US Aid to Haiti to Al Khaleej. ¶3. (SBU) In general, UAE press coverage of the Haiti tragedy has been factual and without obvious political bias, the Al Khaleej story stood out in this regard. ¶4. (U) Text of relevant portion of Al Khaleej Article, in informal translation. "12 American helicopters landed yesterday near the presidential palace at the Haitian palace Port-au-Prince that was destroyed in an earthquake last week. American full-equipped troops left the planes in the largest military exploitation of a human tragedy in the world. The Security Council approved unanimously yesterday a temporary increase in the number of the UN security and police troops to the Caribbean peninsula to maintain security and help in the relief efforts. The UNICEF Fund explained that adoption must be the last resort for orphan children who have lost their parents following the U.S. placement of special measures for the Haitian orphans. UNICEF spokesperson Veronica Tafiu said that the UN agency is afraid of trafficking in the children, noting that regardless of the human circumstances reuniting family members must remain a priority. She added that even if it is proven that the parents have died or lost, efforts must be activated with the larger family members including the grandparents asserting that foreign adoption must remain the last option. She concluded that UNICEF has reports of Haitian children who have been exposed for violence since the earthquake took place. American Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano stated on Monday that the U.S. will allow temporarily orphan Haitian children into the U.S. to receive medical care." OLSON