20964: (Chamberlain) Rebuildng Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By STEVENSON JACOBS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 30 -- Virtually bankrupt and faced with the costly
mistakes of past governments, Haiti's interim leaders are trying to rebuild
this shattered country -- a daunting task as many ministries were looted
and foreign aid is only trickling in.
   The United Nations has raised a little over a quarter of the $35 million
in emergency relief needed to help stabilize Haiti after a three-week
rebellion led President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to flee a month ago.
   U.S.-backed interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue is to meet foreign
donors April 14 to appeal for more funds. Meantime, government agencies are
virtually paralyzed, unable to provide basic services like electricity and
garbage collection.
   "We have all this urgency and no funds to do anything," Cabinet Minister
Robert Ulysse said. "We're still trying to get the engine started, but
we're not moving anywhere."
   The Ministries of Agriculture and Social Affairs were gutted during the
chaos and several other looted offices still have no furniture or vehicles.
   Haiti's state electricity company -- which had a hard time providing
even half a day of service in normal times -- has been forced to take out
private loans to provide minimal service.
   Officials blame the financial woes on corruption and mismanagement under
Aristide. He and his officials pilfered as much as $1 billion, Ulysse
claimed, though an audit by an international firm is pending.
   "The corruption ruined the country," said Anne-Marie Issa of the
seven-member Council of Sages that helped form the new government. "People
are poorer, children can't afford to go to school and institutions aren't
functioning.
   "We can't afford to have another government like that."
   Former Aristide Cabinet Minister Leslie Voltaire, among a few who are
not in hiding, refused to comment on the allegations.
   The poorest country in the hemisphere, Haiti's economy never really
recovered from U.N. sanctions during a 1991-1994 coup regime. The country's
biggest source of foreign currency is remittances from millions of Haitians
living abroad, mainly in the United States, Canada and France.
   Most workers among Haiti's 8.3 million people are unemployed or get by
with odd jobs. Most Haitians live in the deforested countryside with no
electricity, no clean drinking water and no health care.
   Cities are equally decrepit. Port-au-Prince, the capital, has only four
elevators.
   The country sunk deeper into despair after international financial
organizations suspended more than $500 million in aid and most donors froze
direct aid after Aristide's party swept flawed legislative elections in
2000.
   Inflation soared to double digits and the Haitian gourde slumped from 20
to 40 to the dollar while the average Haitian income remained $1 a day or
less, breeding deeper misery and unrest.
   "Basically this government is inheriting a catastrophe," said importer
Jean-Claude Assali. "Unless the international community comes up with
substantial help to rebuild ... I think it's going be almost impossible."
   U.N. officials hope to raise enough money to cover basic humanitarian
needs over the next six months, especially for the strife-torn north, where
the rebellion erupted Feb. 6 and some 200,000 people dependent on food aid
were cut off from relief.
   So far, U.N. agencies have raised $9 million in cash and pledges, mostly
from Canada, France, the United States and Norway.
   International peacekeepers also have pitched in, clearing the capital's
streets of debris and patrolling volatile areas.
   Foreign donors met in Washington last week to evaluate needs ahead of
the April 14 meeting in Port-au-Prince.
   Adama Guindo, the U.N. mission chief in Haiti, is confident "There will
be strong support from the international community. They would like the
transitional government to succeed."
   But Latortue's government has not been recognized by Caribbean leaders,
who criticized him at a summit last week for praising as "freedom fighters"
the rebels, including convicted assassins, who helped bring about
Aristide's downfall.
   Caribbean leaders also question the legitimacy of Latortue's government,
given Aristide's claims that he remains Haiti's democratically elected
president who was forced from power by the United States -- charges U.S.
officials vehemently deny.