29593: Sprague (Article) UN says Haiti donors should focus on civil service (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jeb Sprague <jebsprague@mac.com>

UN says Haiti donors should focus on civil service
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28225292.htm

28 Nov 2006 16:37:06 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Sabina Zawadzki

BRUSSELS, Nov 28 (Reuters) - An international donors meeting for
Haiti should focus on helping it build a civil service to deal with
the problems it faces after retreating from the brink of civil war, a
senior United Nations official said on Tuesday.

Haiti is recovering from decades of political violence topped by a
2004 ouster of then-leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide, but remains one of
the world's poorest countries, plagued by brutal armed gangs,
corruption and poor infrastructure. The donors conference, taking
place in Madrid on Thursday, aims to pledge money for the mid- and
long-term development of the Caribbean country. The U.N. says the
majority of Haiti's state budget comes from international aid. Donors
had already pledged $750 million in July for Haiti's immediate
economic needs, but without a functioning administration this money
had been poorly absorbed, U.N. special envoy Edmond Mulet told
reporters.

"They already received a lot of money, which is in the coffers of the
government, but they don't have the administrative capacity, the
civil servants to even spend that money," he told reporters.

"That is why ... one of the main requests of the Haitian government
to the international community will be to help the government to help
train and finance civil servants' jobs -- to create the
administrative structures which don't exist anymore."

Countries including the United States and organisations such as the
World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, which are all due
to attend, will discuss Haiti's request.

They will consider ideas such as creating a multilateral trust fund
run by the World Bank to channel any money pledged.

Haiti said in July it needed $7 billion to help revive its moribund
economy through investment in roads, agriculture, tourism and
institutional reform.

Mulet said Thursday's conference had no targets for a final sum.