Abu Dhabi: The US has offered to coordinate directly with the UAE government, especially through the military, on humanitarian and relief operations in Haiti, according to US Ambassador to the UAE Richard G, Olson, Jr.
In an interview with WAM, the US envoy said he was asked by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler's Representative in the Western Region and Chairman of the UAE Red Crescent Authority (RCA), to talk about humanitarian programmes and operations for Haiti.
Olsen said that the US was asked by the Haitian government to take over the responsibility for air traffic control because the US military has the capability to do that. The Port-au-Prince airport, on a typical day before the crisis, was receiving 13 aircraft per day and now receives over 120 flights per day, a dramatic increase in air traffic and there are limits to what the airport can actually support, he said.
"The US military has done a magnificent job of balancing these requirements (at the airport where) 70 per cent of the aircraft coming in are civilian and 30 per cent are military, all of them are (mostly) carrying humanitarian supplies."
Olsen also stressed that the US forces are operating under the guidance of the government of Haiti as to what the priorities are.
He applauded the hum-anitarian efforts of the people and the four major charities of the UAE who launched urgent humanitarian operations for Haiti.
