Low Turnout

PORT AU PRINCE (AFP) — Haiti's Senate elections were marred by sporadic violence, forcing authorities to cancel polling in parts of the country, as turnout remained low across the impoverised Caribbean nation.
Election council president Frantz-Gerard Verret announced the cancellations after hundreds of demonstrators protested at ballot stations as voting got underway.
Haitian President Rene Preval, who voted after returning from the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, said he would not comment on the election cancellations until polling results were in.
More than 4.5 million Haitians were eligible to appoint 12 senators out of 78 candidates, although voter apathy prompted a low turnout following years of broken political promises.
Haiti, hit hard in recent months by a series of hurricanes and natural disasters, continues to battle chronic poverty and corruption.
Despite advances in some areas, Preval said last week that "stability is still fragile and needs reinforcement," citing drug trafficking, which he called "an enemy of the rule of law, an enemy against the functioning of democratic institutions."
On a whirlwind visit to Haiti, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday she was "encouraged" by an international donors conference in Washington that pledged some 324 million dollars to help the country.
She said the United States will give Haiti 57 million dollars in extra aid this year as part of the aid package announced at Tuesday's conference led by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Haitian government.
"I believe we still have work to do," Clinton said. "Haiti deserves our help."

Spotlight on Haiti

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week turns the spotlight on the poorest country in the Americas: Haiti.

She will attend a Donors' Conference on Haiti tomorrow in Washington to discuss how the world can come to Haiti's aid. That high-level gathering that will include United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a variety of international organizations.

Clinton plans to visit Haiti Thursday, the State Department announced today. "While in Haiti Secretary Clinton will meet with President René Préval to discuss issues of common concern including stability, security and assistance," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Monday.

After visiting Haiti, and a stopover in next-door Dominican Republic, Clinton will join President Obama to attend the Summit of the Americas at the end of the week in Trinidad and Tobago.

Clinton-watchers are wondering if the Tuesday meeting in Washington will produce something that has become a recent rarity: a photo of both Clintons together. Secretary Clinton is expected at the gathering in the morning, and former President Clinton is giving the keynote speech after lunch at the conference.


Before and during her Senate confirmation hearings, Secretary Clinton carefully separated herself from her husband's various international projects and fundraising, including his work with the Clinton Global Initiative that does sponsor projects in Haiti. The former president visited Haiti last month.

The Miami Herald reports that Secretary Clinton is set to pledge $50 million in U.S. aid to Haiti at the Washington conference.

Haiti has been staggering economically after a series of crises last year, including the global spike in oil and food prices and four hurricanes.

President Preval was an early caller on Secretary Clinton after she took up her State Department post. At that meeting February 5, she called him "a longtime friend" and said she and President Obama were committed to helping Haiti "build a vibrant democracy and a growing economy."

Will a visit help start a change?

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Bill Clinton and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sought to refocus international attention on Haiti with a visit Monday that they hope will lure more aid to keep the impoverished country from sliding back into chaos.

The former U.S. president and the U.N. chief toured Haiti's run-down capital and met with officials struggling with high food prices and the enduring effects of four devastating 2008 storms. The leaders called for more foreign aid and urged Haiti's weak central government to take charge of its own development.

''We are here to mobilize international support ... but at the same time, we expect the Haitian government'' to do its part, Ban told The Associated Press on Monday afternoon.

With both a critical, long-delayed donor's conference in Washington and elections for 12 Senate seats scheduled in April, the International Crisis Group and others have warned that Haiti's leaders must both get billions of dollars in international aid and better manage affairs at home or its short-lived period of political calm will end.

Ban and Clinton met with President Rene Preval at the national palace on Monday evening to discuss storm recovery, environmental repair and economic assistance, including credit for farmers and increasing textile production under the 2006 U.S. trade deal ''HOPE II.''

In a speech, Preval recounted the ''three shocks'' Haiti experienced last year: high oil prices, high food prices and the storms, which he said ruined a prime opportunity to lift Haiti out of poverty.

''We now more than ever need the solidarity of the international community,'' Preval said.

The Haitian president has faced growing criticism for an alleged failure to lead, including not speaking out until nearly a week into last April's food price riots. The unrest led to the ouster of his prime minister, who was not replaced for months because of political bickering.

''Preval said he's providing security, but every day people are being robbed. The country is tired. We're going to make a better choice next time,'' said Femil Ladouceur, a 19-year-old student standing along the motorcade route.

Underscoring that tension, at least 1,000 supporters of ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party shouted outside the national palace during the meeting and held up signs displaying the Creole pun ''Ban Ki-moon, Ban m Titid'' -- ''Give me back Aristide.'' Earlier, hundreds demonstrated near the airport as the dignitaries arrived, waving signs reading, ''Clinton, we need your help.''

Lavalas candidates have all been disqualified from the elections by the government. Some supporters are threatening to hamper voting if they cannot participate.

Ban, Clinton and Haitian-American recording star Wyclef Jean met with university scholarship recipients Monday afternoon to speak about the environmental devastation that has made Haiti prone to deadly tropical storms. Last year, storms killed nearly 800 people and ravaged the struggling nation's economy.

''Haiti was (once on) the richest island in all of the Caribbean ... because of the natural resources, because of what God had put into the land,'' Clinton told the students. ''It can be again, because of the resources in your mind and in your heart.''

Clinton, who visited Haiti as president in 1995 and again in 2003, is popular among Haiti's urban poor because Aristide was returned to power under his watch in 1994.

Lets all pray that there will be some type of change in Haiti,How sad that people in this country where born there and they had no choice in what they would have to endure because of their government.