22054: (Hermantin)Miami-Herald-U.S. to give Haiti $100 million more (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Tue, May. 25, 2004

HAITI
U.S. to give Haiti $100 million more
The U.S. ambassador said Haiti's aid package will total $160 million by the
end of next month.
BY MICHAEL DEIBERT
Special to The Herald

PORT-AU-PRINCE - The U.S. government will pump an additional $100 million in
aid into Haiti by the end of next month to help the country's cash-strapped
interim government, U.S. Ambassador James B. Foley announced Monday.

The funds include $35 million for the government's operational budget and
$22 million to begin reforming Haiti's national police force, Foley said.

The ambassador told a news conference in the Haitian capital that the $100
million in aid for the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation will be over and
above the $60 million in aid to Haiti already budgeted for the fiscal year
2004-2005.

Foley said he hoped the money would help the government of Prime Minister
Gerard Latortue recover from months of political violence and a plummeting
economy that saw former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide driven from power
in late February.

''After the years of bad government, the destruction, the pillage . . . this
accord will accelerate the process [of rebuilding],'' Foley said. ``With
this announcement of assistance, we are affirming our commitment to Haiti
during this transition.''

Some $35 million will go directly into Haiti's operational budget, providing
for such essentials as the purchase of fuel for power-generating plants that
have been working only sporadically since February.

Another $22 million will go to reform Haiti's national police force, which
just about melted away as anti-Aristide rebels seized much of northern Haiti
and moved toward the capital.

Aristide, who was elected to a second presidential term in 2000, fled Haiti
Feb. 29, the same day that a U.S.-led multinational peacekeeping force began
arriving in Port-au-Prince.

Armed rebels still control parts of Haiti and crime has reportedly been on
the rise since February because of the shortage of security forces.

The U.S.-led peacekeeping force is due to be replaced by a U.N.-approved
military coalition, spearheaded by 1,200 Brazilian troops, beginning June 1.

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