13262: Craig - Editorial: Helping Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <dgcraig@att.net>

Helping Haiti
September 25, 2002
The New York Times Company

For the past two years, the international community has
been in a terrible bind over Haiti. Results of the tainted
May 2000 legislative elections were rejected by the
opposition, and since then a combination of political
gridlock and governmental abuse has sent the Haitians
further into misery. The United States and other donors
withheld contributions hoping to spur President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide into political and human rights
reform and his opposition into negotiations with him.
Neither he nor they have complied.

Now, in a shift born largely of exasperation, the
Organization of American States, backed by Washington, has
decided to unblock millions of dollars in aid on the
condition that legislative elections be held next year.
This is the right step, an effort to force the hand of both
government and opposition while offering relief to the
seven million people of a nation whose suffering knows no
bounds.

The lives of the majority of the population defy the
imagination of most Americans. Life expectancy is less than
50 years, and 55 percent of adults are illiterate. Access
to potable water is rare in rural areas. Malnutrition is a
leading cause of death among children under 4. Unemployment
is near 70 percent. An estimated 80 percent of the
population lives in abject poverty.

The elements of the worsening crisis in Haiti remain much
the same as those eight years ago when American troops led
an invasion to oust a military junta and restore Mr.
Aristide, democratically elected, to power. There are fuel
shortages, labor unrest, gangs of armed thugs roaming the
street, crumbling infrastructure and political
fractiousness. A recent World Bank study questioned whether
the aid of the previous 15 years had made any difference in
reducing poverty, blaming government mismanagement. The
seeming intractability of Haiti's problems makes
normalization of its relations with the United States and
other nations, as well as with international development
banks, no less pressing a concern. Outsiders are
discovering that they may not be able to rescue Haiti. But
carefully channeled international aid, conditioned on
political reform, may help ease the Haitians' misery.