SAUNDERS. we do plan to move out everybody eventually

MONTEGO BAY, St James - The Government was yesterday finalising plans to transfer the 220 Haitian refugees now staying at the Winifred Rest Home in Portland to the old army barracks in Montpelier, St James.

Some of the refugees at the Winifred facility were scheduled to be transferred yesterday, but Paul Saunders, the co-ordinator for the Haitian activities, told the Observer that the transfers were not done due to "circumstances beyond our control".

He declined to elaborate, but said the Winifred Rest Home was never intended to be a permanent facility for the refugees.

".We do plan to move out everybody eventually and that is nothing new, it's the usual procedure," Saunders said.
More than 800 Haitians came to Jamaica in rickety boats in an exodus that followed violence last year February that led to the overthrow of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Some were since repatriated, but others continue to show up in Portland, putting pressure on the Portland police and the Winifred Rest Home, where they are normally processed and later transferred to Montpelier. But because of the large influx of the boat people and the lack of space at the St James facility, many of them have been staying in Portland.

Currently, there are 274 Haitians at the Montpelier facility, which can comfortably accommodate about 400 persons.

Saunders said the government was trying to avoid operating the two facilities and expressed confidence that with the steady repatriation of the boat people the Montpelier facility would be able to accommodate the remaining Haitians.

"Voluntary repatriation is on-going so we hope some more will leave so we can free up some more space down there (Montpelier)," he said.

More than 350 Haitians have been repatriated since Aristide's ouster in 2004. The last batch of 63 went home last week.

Meanwhile, the special tribunal set up by government is still reviewing the applications of the 270 refugees who were denied permanent stay in the island and have decided to appeal the decision.

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