23568: radtimes: IMF Cancels Trip to Violence-Torn Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radtimes <resist@best.com>

IMF Cancels Trip to Violence-Torn Haiti

http://www.forbes.com/business/services/feeds/ap/2004/10/21/ap1602844.html

10.21.2004

The International Monetary Fund has called off a mission meeting with
Haitian leaders next week, citing security concerns in the violence-torn
Caribbean nation, IMF officials said on Thursday.

Haiti has been trying to rebuild since a three-week rebellion pushed
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power in February and September
floods killed more than 1,900 people.

The IMF extends emergency aid at low interest rates to countries in which
major destruction has occurred. The mission was to discuss, among other
things, the renewal of an economic monitoring program, the current budget
and emergency post-conflict assistance.

"All that now is on hold," said IMF senior press officer for Latin America
Francisco Baker, in a telephone interview Thursday.

On Sept. 30, the anniversary of the army coup that had ousted Aristide for
the first time in 1991, violence resurged when Aristide partisans clashed
with police.

Since then, at least 55 people have been shot and killed and scores wounded.

The IMF representative was called back to Washington, D.C. "because of the
recent deterioration in the security situation in and around
Port-au-Prince," said Tom Dawson, Director of IMF External Relations, at a
press briefing Wednesday.

Because of the violence, the government has lost millions of dollars in
customs receipts, and the weak Haitian economy is staggering.

At a meeting in July, international donors pledged about $1 billion in aid
to Haiti, the hemisphere's poorest country, racked by almost two decades of
political turmoil.

But the disbursement of hundreds of millions of dollars in low-interest
loan dollars depends on whether the IMF approves of the interim
government's adherence to specific economic measures, such as controlling
inflation rates and curbing government waste.

Dawson said the postponed meeting would be held "as soon as security
conditions permit."

.