30416: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Corruption (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By STEVENSON JACOBS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 18 (AP) -- Haitian President Rene Preval declared a
"war without end" against corruption Friday, calling crooked state
officials traitors who rob the deeply impoverished nation of vital
investment and jobs.
   "The fight for equality requires the government to have money without
having to ask for it. For the government to have money, people have to stop
stealing from the state," the left-leading Preval said during a Haitian
Flag Day speech at the National Palace.
   Laying out a major initiative of his year-old government, Preval vowed
to root out corrupt police, customs agents, judges and legislators, whom he
accused of enriching themselves at the expense of the aid-dependent
Caribbean nation, which is struggling to return to stability following a
crippling 2004 revolt.
   "This war without end against corruption will be long and hard, but we
will win because it's a fight for life," Preval said during the address
attended by diplomats from Haiti's biggest donor-nations, including the
United States, Canada and France.
   The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti is also considered among the
most corrupt. Haiti ranked last among 163 countries last year in
Transparency International's annual corruption survey, scoring slightly
worse than Iraq, Guinea and Myanmar.
   "Everyone involved in corruption is a traitor in the fight for
equality," he said. "If there's corruption, there will be no investment.
Without investment, there will be no jobs."
   During a visit to the United States earlier this month, Preval met with
business leaders and vowed to tighten anti-corruption controls in a bid to
lure investors.