Port-au-Prince — SOUTH African charity Gift of the Givers has stepped up its drive to bring humanitarian aid directly to desperate, starving Haitians as red tape hampers international relief efforts.

The move could speed up delivery to areas poorly serviced by United Nations (UN)-led agencies.

The charity was negotiating the passage of 100 tons of high-nutrition food parcels and medical supplies to be distributed independently, its chairman, Imtiaz Sooliman, said yesterday.

"We want to save lives. We want to get food and medicine and the best doctors to the people who need it most."

The UN is expanding relief efforts to outlying areas as the number of refugees leaving Port- au-Prince reaches about 1-million. Many would need shelter during the hurricane season later this year, the UN told Business Day yesterday.

Funding proposals will be discussed at a donor conference today.

Signs of normality are returning to Port-au-Prince.

Rubble is being cleared, rubbish removed, and banks are reopening, restoring a vital lifeline allowing relatives abroad to wire money through, although a bloated corpse still lay outside one branch on Saturday.

But local charities say much more targeted aid is urgently needed in devastated areas.

On Friday, the first major co- ordinated food distribution attempt by the UN and US military got under way in the sprawling slum of Cite Soleil, but was marred by violence.

Cite Soleil, a violent shantytown, experienced an upsurge in gun-related gang violence after 4000 prisoners, including gang bosses, escaped from the quake- damaged prison.

On Saturday, members of a US charity that runs a small orphanage were prevented from moving from their compound because gun battles were raging between rival gangs, its founder, Mark Dreibelbis, said.

These incidents have made the UN wary of increasing aid to volatile areas, driving residents to looting despite the risk of being shot by police or security guards employed by owners.

Business Day witnessed several looting incidents in the city broken up violently by police. Several people have been shot in the past few days, some fatally.

"My brother, my brother," a woman wailed next to a man's bullet-riddled corpse. "The people of Haiti are very angry," said another bystander. "The police are just shooting."

At the docks nearby, hundreds of Haitians are waiting to board a small ship to the coastal town of Jeremie, 12 hours away.

Many, like 55-year-old Joelle Jouisjack, have no money for the fare but return day after day, hoping for a miracle. This district has never had food aid and Jouisjack, who looks after seven relatives, is too afraid to walk to the UN feeding point outside the presidential palace.

Staffers of larger, non-UN agencies such as Caritas and the Catholic Relief Service (CRS) admit organisational logistics have been a shambles, but blame security concerns.

"CRS tried to distribute food at the epicentre of the earthquake in Leogane with US marines the other day but they had to evacuate," a Caritas member who did not want to be named said. "Giving 3000 people food is dangerous and no one will remember you. But it can blow your reputation."

But several smaller agencies expressed disappointment at what they called "unreasonable demands" made by the UN and its partners. Frank King runs a small refugee camp for 2000 people on the outskirts of Port- au-Prince. He scoffed at what he called the UN's obsession with security. The refugees are fed once a day by food he supplies. "We've never had any threats or violence. Look -- nice, orderly lines and not a solider in sight."

King's camp is running out of food. But when he went to the UN for help he was told to fill in forms. "It took ages. Then I said: where's my food? They told me to come back the next day." He gave up. "This is a disaster."

Ebrahim Khan, a trauma surgeon from Durban and veteran relief worker who was in Pakistan after the 2005 quake that killed 82000 people, called the Haitian humanitarian response "poorly organised".

UN spokesman Nick Reader said the Haiti relief mission was "one of the most complex we've ever dealt with". Speedy distribution had also been hampered by a lack of fuel and transport vehicles, he said.

"At every level there's incompetence -- it's unbelievable," said one UN worker who did not want to be named.

The confirmed death toll in Haiti had topped 150000 yesterday. Shortly after Haiti announced the end of search and rescue operations, rescuers on Saturday pulled a Haitian man alive from the rubble of a collapsed hotel.