21807: (Chamberlain) Haiti to UN nation needs relief, not just troops (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Evelyn Leopold

     UNITED NATIONS, May 10 (Reuters) - Haiti's interim prime minister
appealed to the United Nations on Monday for economic and development aid,
saying just sending peacekeeping troops was insufficient.
     Gerard Latortue, who conferred with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
told reporters that while piles of weapons in Haiti were a severe problem,
he believed the expected U.N. troops were enough to accomplish disarmament
"easily and rapidly."
     Some 3,500 foreign troops, half from the United States, the others
from France, Canada and Chile, are now in Haiti. Up to 6,700 U.N.-organized
troops and 1,622 civilian police are to replace them on June 1.
     Latortue told reporters, "Sending troops is not enough because the
root of the problem is poverty, unemployment."
     Latortue, who is visiting French President Jacques Chirac in Paris on
Tuesday, said help was needed to set up small and medium-sized enterprises
and build up public institutions. He did not say how much money was needed
but said assessments were under way. Haiti is the poorest country in the
Americas.
     He said he understood the reluctance of donors. Latortue, a former
U.N. employee for the U.N. Development Fund, said he was involved in a
study in 1999 on the impact of foreign aid in Haiti.
     "It was unworkable" because of the lack of transparency, and the
misuse of funds, Latortue said. "All of those problems in the last 10 years
have reached the point they did not want to give money to the Haitian
government" and funded nongovernmental groups instead.
     The United States has said it would consider contributing $40 million
to Haiti in addition to the $55 million already in the budget for this
year.
     Secretary of State Colin Powell, who saw Latortue last week, made
clear "he can count on American support," a State Department spokesman said
on Monday.
     Latortue, 69, who had lived in Florida, was appointed as a
transitional prime minister in early March. He took office after weeks of
fighting between gunmen loyal to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and armed
gangs opposed to him eventually forced Aristide to leave.
     The Caribbean group of nations, CARICOM, has said the ouster of
Aristide, an elected president, set a dangerous precedent.
     "What I do know is that President Aristide himself distributed more
than 15,000 guns in the months before he left," Latortue said. "Aristide is
behind us now and we are looking forward now how to build the country."