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US, UN send more troops to help Haiti

19 January 2010 19:43 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ziya Agazade â€“ APA. Scores of U.S. troops landed on the lawn of Haiti’s shattered presidential palace Tuesday to the cheers of quake victims and the U.N. said it would throw more police and soldiers into the sluggish global effort to aid the devastated country.

The U.N. forces are aimed at controlling outbursts of looting and violence that have slowed distribution of supplies, leaving many Haitians still without help a week after the magnitude-7.0 quake killed an estimated 200,000 people, APA reports quoting â€œAssociated Pressâ€ as saying.

The U.S. military says it can now get 100 flights a day through the airport, up from 60 last week, but still could use more. The Pentagon announced that it is improving two other airfields for aid flights within the next two days, one in the Haitian town of Jacmel and another in the Dominican Republic.

U.S. and Haitian officials also warned any efforts of Haitians to reach the United States by boat would be thwarted. Haiti’s ambassador in Washington, Raymond Joseph, recorded a message in Creole to his countrymen, urging them not to leave.