UN, Haitian President Call for Calm After Cholera Riots

Violence has erupted in recent days as rumours circulate that UN peacekeepers are responsible for a cholera epidemic that has killed over 1,000 people.

The UN has flatly denied rumours that a contingent of Nepalese peacekeepers is the source of the cholera epidemic, and is warning that riots across the country are preventing sick people from getting the care they need. In the northern city of Cap-Haitien, where the disease has killed people at twice the rate as in the south, crowds erected barricades of burning debris and clashed with UN soldiers. Aid agencies have scaled back their operations in Haiti in the wake of the violence. President Rene Preval issued a statement warning that the riots would only exacerbate the cholera outbreak. On Tuesday, officials in the neighbouring Dominican Republican confirmed they had detected the first case of cholera in the country.