15260: (Chamberlain) Haiti-Clinton (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 8 (AP) -- International agencies that are
withholding aid from Haiti should make exceptions for humanitarian causes,
such as the country's AIDS crisis, former President Bill Clinton said
during a visit.
   Haiti, which has the highest rate of HIV infection in the Caribbean, was
Clinton's last stop on Tuesday in a five-day regional tour focused on
efforts against the virus.
   During a visit to Haiti's National Palace, Clinton met with President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife, Mildred, who is in charge of
coordinating the country's struggle against AIDS.
   With an estimated 300,000 of Haiti's 8.3 million people infected, AIDS
is the leading cause of death for sexually active adults, killing thousands
each year.
   The international community has withheld some $500 million in aid since
flawed May 2000 elections.
   "I think there should be a humanitarian exception to the embargo on
aid," Clinton said. Other countries have withheld some $500 million in aid
to protest flawed elections in May 2000.
   On behalf of the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, the former
president also signed a memorandum of understanding with Mildred Aristide
pledging to help Haiti find funding and plan projects to fight the virus.
   "We want to find funds and resources to make sure everybody who is
infected with AIDS has access to care," Clinton said, though his foundation
does not itself give direct funding.
   Since Clinton's term ended in January 2001, his foundation's AIDS
initiative has had experts working in the Caribbean and Africa to help
expand access to treatment.
   The Caribbean has the world's second-highest infection rate after
sub-Saharan Africa. Outside of Cuba, where infection rates are low, an
estimated 2 percent of people in the Caribbean, or 500,000, are infected.