22783: Fuller: fwd SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR GENEROUS COMMITMENT FROM INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Anne Fuller <affuller3@yahoo.com>

UN News Service
20/07/2004
Press Release
SG/SM/9425

SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR GENEROUS COMMITMENT FROM INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

TO HELP HAITI THROUGH DIFFICULT TRANSITION, IN MESSAGE TO DONORS CONFERENCE

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the International
Donors Conference on Haiti, delivered by Juan Gabriel Valdes, Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for Haiti, in Washington, D.C., 20
July:

This is an important day in the history of the international community’s
involvement in Haiti.  I send my warm greetings to all who have gathered to
respond to crucial political, institutional and development needs that have
been identified in Haiti for the next 27 months.  I am confident that the
collective response of the international community at this conference will
meet the expectations of the Haitian people.

After the crisis in Haiti early this year, the country has embarked on the
road of transition.  The security situation has gradually improved since
the deployment of the Multinational Interim Force in February, and the
follow-on United Nations stabilization mission in June.  The interim
leadership is showing a genuine commitment to promoting participatory
democracy and sustainable development in Haiti.  MINUSTAH is working to
provide the necessary conditions for an inclusive and nation-wide dialogue
and reconciliation process, an even-handed fight against impunity,
preparations for free and fair elections, and the development of Haiti’s
economy.

However, no one should underestimate how fragile Haiti remains.  Armed
groups continue to endanger stability.  The rule of law has not yet been
restored.  Political forces remain at loggerheads. Basic services need
urgent rehabilitation.  Unemployment is widespread.  The people of Haiti
will be sorely tested in the difficult period ahead.  So will the
international community.  If Haiti’s transition is to be successful, the
international community must put its full weight behind the Haitian
leadership, and stay engaged during the months, and years, to come.  We
must work to address root causes, and not merely paper over the symptoms.

The signs, so far, are encouraging.  I welcome the new partnership that has
emerged between the international community and the Transitional Government
in preparation of the Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF).  It has truly
been a cooperative endeavour, drawing in national and international
stakeholders at all levels. The contributions of the Organization of
American States and the Caribbean Community, with whom the United Nations
is working closely, are of great importance.  I commend the World Bank, the
Inter-American Development Bank and the European Commission, who, together
with the United Nations system, have coordinated the international
community’s support to the Transitional Government during the ICF process,
and who are co-hosting today’s conference.

I also applaud the Interim Government for the political will it has shown
to make the transition work.  It has mobilized national resources, with the
support of friendly international institutions and donor countries, to
launch and lead the ICF process.  Without local ownership the ICF would not
have been a credible process.  I encourage the Government to show the same
spirit during the implementation of the ICF.

I also welcome Prime Minister Latortue’s assurance that his government will
be fully transparent and accountable, including to its citizenry, about the
spending of international resources.  This is an important message which, I
trust, will not fall on deaf ears today.

I therefore urge the international community to pledge generously today, in
support of the priority areas in the political and economic domains of
peace-building -– political governance and national dialogue; economic
governance and institutional development; economic recovery; and improving
access to basic services.  The implementation of the ICF between July 2004
and September 2006 requires financing to the tune of $1.37 billion.  That
funding will be vital if Haiti is to walk successfully down the difficult
path of transition.  Today, let us show the Haitian people that, this time,
the international community is fully committed to walking with them down
that path.

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