Marines land in Haiti but tension deepens over US 'occupation' of quake isle

• A Haitian boy wakes from sleeping on a stone plaza across the street from the National Palace. Picture: Getty

US marines have landed in the stricken country to help bring order to the increasingly lawless streets of the capital Port-au-Prince.

The US said the 2,200 marines, with medical aid, helicopters and equipment to clear debris, would join 5,000 US troops already in the region to help international aid efforts, which have been hampered by Haiti's ruined infrastructure.

But after US forces turned away a plane-load of medical supplies, a French minister accused the Americans of "occupying" the country.

The US reinforcements are likely to be joined by a bolstered UN force after secretary-general Ban Ki-moon recommended the Security Council send a further 1,500 police and 2,000 troops. Mr Ban, who saw the devastation for himself during a six-hour visit to the capital on Sunday, said action was urgently required to stem mounting disquiet among the population. "When their patience level becomes thinner – that is when we have to be concerned," he warned.

The latest forecast is that the death toll could hit 200,000. With fading hopes of finding any more survivors, the Pan-American Health Organisation said it believed up to 100,000 could have perished in the disaster. But the leading US general on the ground said it was a "reasonable assumption" by the Haitian government that up to double that number had lost their lives.

As aid workers fought to help the thousands displaced by last week's 7.0-magnitude quake, a meeting of European Union development ministers pledged more than 320 million to help rebuild the country. Britain is tripling its commitment to 20m, to deal with "an almost unprecedented level of devastation". The UN has been feeding 40,000 people a day – a number it hopes to increase to one million within two weeks.

International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said: "Our initial assessments show a level of humanitarian need which would severely test the international response in any circumstances. But the impact of this earthquake is magnified because it has hit a country that was already desperately poor and historically volatile."

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme announced plans to erect a tent city on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince to offer temporary housing to 100,000 people.

But local reports suggested aid efforts had yet to make a significant impact, with a shortage of food and water contributing to a medical crisis, and soaring levels of infection and disease among a malnourished population already widely afflicted by Aids, malaria and tuberculosis.

Surgeons at three field hospitals set up to care for the injured in the capital were said to be amputating, rather than setting, broken limbs, as gangrene set in among the hordes queuing for medical attention.

As foreign aid struggled to get in via the airport or across broken roads from the Dominican Republic, the security situation became increasingly tense, with police firing on rioters and reports of machete-wielding looters in masks roaming the streets.

Hundreds of young men and boys were seen breaking into shops and clambering over broken walls to steal whatever they could find. Toothpaste was in high demand, with locals smearing it under their noses to ward off the stench of decaying bodies.

As its extra personnel landed, the US insisted its troops would back up local forces and UN peacekeepers and did not intend to replace them, after diplomatic grumbling that the US military was too domineering.

It took control of the country's airport on Saturday, and

French ministers were furious after a plane carrying medical supplies from charity Mdecins Sans Frontires was turned back. Foreign minister Bernard Kouchner raised fears the that Americans were prioritising their military aircraft over those carrying aid, and said: "People always want it to be their plane that lands. (But] what's important is the fate of the Haitians."

His ministerial colleague Alain Joyandet, who called on the UN to "clarify" the US role in the relief effort, said: "This is about helping Haiti, not about occupying Haiti."

But the head of the World Food Programme insisted agreement had been reached to prioritise humanitarian flights into the airport, in an air-slot system similar to that used during the Indonesian tsunami emergency.

As aid slowly found its way to those in need, diplomats across the globe were co-ordinating the massive international effort of dozens of agencies.

Former US president Bill Clinton, who arrived in Haiti with his daughter yesterday, carried crates of bottled water at the airport and shook hands with doctors at a hospital. He pledged his foundation would provide medicine and a generator so that doctors there can work through the night.

Meanwhile, actor George Clooney is to host a disaster relief concert on Friday with Haitian-born Wyclef Jean, Bono, Sting and others, while football superstars Zinedine Zidane and Kaka are among those who have promised to play in a benefit match.

Analysis:

Stuart Ramsay: 'No doctors, no police, no aid agencies – nothing'

Out of the ruins

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