surprised by Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said on Wednesday a lack of cooperation between Haitian politicians, aid groups and business leaders was hurting efforts to help the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Clinton, on his first visit since being named U.N. special envoy to Haiti, said he was optimistic about its future but surprised by the continuing divide between the private and public sectors and the nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operating in Haiti.

"The most surprising thing to me ... is how little the investor community, all the elements of the government, including the legislative branch and the NGO community seem to have taught and absorbed each others' lessons," Clinton told reporters at the end of a two-day fact-finding mission.

The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has struggled to establish democratic institutions and a stable investment climate following decades of dictatorship and military rule. Most of its 9 million people live on less than $2 a day.

But the appointment of Clinton by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in May, hundreds of millions of dollars in recent donor pledges and the granting of $1.2 billion in debt relief by the World Bank, IMF and other creditors this month has raised hopes in Haiti.

The Paris Club of sovereign creditors said on Wednesday it had decided to cancel $62.73 million of Haiti's debt and committed to canceling an additional $152 million.

Clinton met on Wednesday with business leaders, heads of the executive and legislative branches of the government and NGOs and civil society groups, after a tour on Tuesday of the mud-stained city of Gonaives, where floods last year killed hundreds of people.

He promised to do all he can to collect the money Haiti needs to address some of its crucial infrastructure, education and healthcare problems but urged Haitians to solve their internal differences.

"If it is a question of money that's my problem, but if it is not about money, that's something Haitians need to resolve among themselves," he said. "That's a little surprising to me. But everybody is eager to do it."

Bill Clinton in Haiti on Monday

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Bill Clinton aims to refocus international attention on this Caribbean country's deep economic problems and environmental decay during his first visit as the United Nations' special envoy to Haiti.

The former U.S. president, who is expected to meet with Haitian President Rene Preval and visit hurricane-battered areas, is lending his prestige to the plight of the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere as world attention has shifted to the global financial crisis and other trouble spots.

He was scheduled to arrive late Monday, but no public events were planned until Tuesday, the United Nations said.

The three-day visit will be Clinton's second to Haiti this year. He toured Port-au-Prince with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, recording artist Wyclef Jean and others in March, before Ban named him to the newly created post in May.

Clinton spoke at a Haiti donors conference at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington in April that generated $324 million in aid pledges.

As U.N. envoy, his aims include investment and job creation, particularly by expanding garment factories that export to the United States, and repairing Haiti's severe deforestation.

Those priorities were laid out in a 19-page report to Ban by Oxford University professor Paul Collier in January that was praised by Preval and other leaders.

But the report has been criticized by lawmakers and other Haitians who see the garment factories as havens for exploitative labor. Workers in the factories make a minimum salary of $1.72 a day, though some are paid more.

A bill passed by Haiti's parliament to raise the daily minimum wage to $5.14 was rejected by Preval, contributing to frustrations that have fueled street protests and kept most voters away from the polls during last month's Senate elections.

"If someone can't pay a worker $5, I think we don't need that person here in Haiti," said lawmaker Steven Benoit, who sponsored the wage increase.

Many Haitians have taken to referring to Clinton with varying degrees of respect, concern and sarcasm as a colonial "governor," a term rooted in Haiti's long history of slavery under France and U.S. military occupation in the 20th century.

Still, Clinton remains widely popular — especially among the mostly poor supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who are old enough to remember Clinton's help in restoring Aristide to power in 1994 after a coup.

Aristide was forced into exile by a rebellion in 2004.

Happy 4TH of July

I have a great appreciation for the great untied states, when we here the national anthem it makes us cry. I will never take such thing as food water, and great medical care as just something that is just going to be there. I truly feel bad for those that live in a third world country. They did not ask for all the trouble there country is in They did not ask to have no way to feed there family they where just born into those circumstances. I want to thank all the service man that go off to war to fight for our freedoms. Thank you so much and God bless you.

Haiti two killed in protest

On June 12 Haitian president René Préval finally responded to a bill Parliament has passed to raise the minimum wage from 70 gourdes ($1.74) a day to 200 gourdes ($4.97). The pay hike, the first since 2003, cleared the Senate on May 5. In an official letter to the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, Préval repeated claims of Haitian business associations that the wage increase would jeopardize the subcontracting sector, the free trade zone (FTZ) factories that assemble goods largely for export. He proposed an increase to 125 gourdes for that sector, and called on Parliament to be open to negotiations on the measure. (Haiti Press Network, June 17; Radio Métropole, Haiti, June 18)

Students from the State University of Haiti (UEH) continued the militant protests in Port-au-Prince that they began on June 3 to demand that Préval make the full wage increase official by promulgating it in the government gazette, Le Moniteur. Early on the morning of June 17, students used burning tires to create barricades near the Medical School and other parts of the university. As on previous occasions, Haitian police and police agents from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) used tear gas in an attempt to disperse the protesters. The students seized a MINUSTAH police car and set it on fire; the agents fled the vehicle. Protesters also burned a bus and smashed windshields with rocks. UEH protests began earlier in the year over curriculum changes, but the demands now include the minimum wage increase and the removal of MINUSTAH, a Brazilian-led 8,000-member military and police operation that has been in Haiti since June 2004. (Radio Métropole, June 17, 18; AlterPresse, Haiti, June 17)

Anger at MINUSTAH intensified on June 18 when supporters of the Lavalas Family (FL) party of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide (1991-1996 and 2001-2004) accused Brazilian soldiers of the shooting death of an unidentified young man outside the Port-au-Prince cathedral. Lavalas supporters had attended a funeral service there for Father Gérard Jean-Juste, a well-known Catholic priest and Aristide sympathizer. According to witnesses, the MINUSTAH soldiers had been firing in the air, although it is not clear why. An angry demonstration followed in which protesters smashed windshields; the action ended with protesters carrying the young man's body to the National Palace, the president's official residence. (AlterPresse, June 18)

Jean-Juste, who died in Florida on May 27 after a long illness, had run a popular food distribution service at his church in Port-au-Prince and was a founder of the Haitian Refugee Center in Miami. He was imprisoned in July 2005 by the interim government that was put in place after Aristide was forced from office in February 2004; Jean-Juste was released in January 2006 to undergo treatment for leukemia and pneumonia in the US.

At least one person died in clashes during a runoff for a third of the Senate seats on June 21. The victim—identified as Jean Pierre Wilfrid, a supporter of the social democratic Fusion party—was reportedly killed in an altercation with supporters of the Lespwa ("Hope") party of President Préval. (AlterPresse, June 21)

Its been awhile I just returned from Haiti

I just returned from Haiti it was a eventful trip there was alot of unrest in this country. I am all ways amazed at how we as a nation have so much but we do nothing for a country that has nothing but misery and starvation. while we drive on these sad roads people will come up to the van to sell us nasty water or weeds they have picked or anything else. when you hand them something as simple as a granola bar or a little snack they are so grateful for it. where people in our country just take it for granted.But there are those that do make it out of this country to become something. There is a young man on the show so you think you can dance that has come along way.he was a orphan on the streets of Haiti and knew it was a legit way of making some pennies to live and now he is a wonderful dancer. so we can all pray that some way some how there will be a change for this country.

Madonna get's Mercy

Pop singer Madonna has reportedly convinced judges to overturn their decision, and let her adopt second Malawian child. Two of the three appeal judges were said to have given a thumbs up to the application, while the third was allegedly 'in complete unison with them. The Queen of Pop, whose two-year application to adopt the three-year-old Mercy James was turned down in March, apparently heard the news from her attorney Alan Chinula. "The paperwork is being typed up now. All recommendations are in favour of the adoption taking place. Mercy should start packing her bags. She''s off to America," the Sun quoted a source as saying. A close friend of Madonna added: "She's ecstatic. She made a promise that she wouldn't give up on Mercy and, believe me, she could move mountains when she's this determined."  Madonna’s adoption bid was rejected by a court because she was not a Malawi resident, a requirement that was waived when she adopted three-year-old David Banda from the African country in 2006. The ruling is reportedly slated to be announced soon at Malawi's Supreme Court of Appeal.

$121 Million Strategy

The World Bank on Tuesday approved a new four-year, $121 million lending strategy for Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, that focuses on economic growth, jobs and reducing the impact from natural disasters.

"With this new strategy, we are supporting Haiti's own efforts to put the difficult events of last year firmly behind it, and return to a path toward longer term growth and development," said Yvonne Tsikata, the World Bank's Country Director for the Caribbean.

"The country faces great opportunities, as well as huge challenges, and it needs strong and sustained support from the World Bank Group and other international partners."

The United Nations has some 9,000 peacekeepers in Haiti, which has long been afflicted by political instability and violence and was heavily damaged by hurricanes last year.

It is beset by high poverty, poor basic services and unemployment levels, while deforestation has left the country almost treeless.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton was named on May 18 as U.N. special envoy to Haiti in a move to attract investment to the country.

The World Bank said its lending plan provides assistance through a mix of investment projects and development policy measures. At the same time, the Bank said it aims to stimulate private sector development with help from the International Finance Corporation, the Bank's private-sector lender.

IFC said it had identified agricultural and textile manufacturing sectors as potential growth areas for Haiti.

"We are working with the government and investors to identify key feasible actions and priorities that will together have the greatest growth impact," said Atul Mehta, IFC director of the Latin America and Caribbean department. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Gary Hill)