http://my.haitianite.com/ My Haitianite community - Our community, our pictures, our news, our blogs, our music, our forum, our video and our entertainment. Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:37:54 -0400 http://www.konsort.org en http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_1/ http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_1/ Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:20:10 -0500 RUDBoy http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_1/
With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies.

Charlene, 16 with a one-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau.
Click here to find out more!

The mud has long been prized by pregnant women and children here as an antacid and source of calcium. But in places like Cite Soleil, the oceanside slum where Charlene shares a two-room house with her baby, five siblings and two unemployed parents, cookies made of dirt, salt and vegetable shortening have become a regular meal.

"When my mother does not cook anything, I have to eat them three times a day," Charlene said. Her baby, named Woodson, lay still across her lap, looking slightly thinner than the slim 6 pounds 3 ounces he weighed at birth.

Though she likes their buttery, salty taste, Charlene said the cookies also give her stomach pains. "When I nurse, the baby sometimes seems colicky too," she said.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is increasingly concerned about food prices, which are up as much as 40 percent on some Caribbean islands. Floods and crop damage from the 2007 hurricane season forced the agency to declare states of emergency in Haiti and several other countries.

Caribbean leaders held an emergency summit in December to discuss cutting food taxes and creating large regional farms to reduce dependence on imports.

At the market in the La Salines slum, two cups of rice now sell for $0.60, up 10 cents from December and 50 percent from a year ago. Beans, condensed milk and fruit have gone up at a similar rate, and even the price of the edible clay has risen over the past year by almost $1.50. Dirt to make 100 cookies now costs $5, the cookie makers say.

Still, at about five cents apiece, the cookies are a bargain compared to food staples.

Merchants truck the dirt from the central town of Hinche to the La Salines market, a maze of tables of sweet-smelling vegetables and meat swarming with flies. Women buy the dirt, then process it into mud cookies in places such as Fort Dimanche, a nearby shanty town.

Carrying buckets of dirt and water up ladders to the roof of the former prison for which the slum is named, they strain out rocks and clumps on a sheet, and stir in shortening and salt. Then they pat the mixture into mud cookies and leave them to dry under the scorching sun.

The finished cookies are carried in buckets to markets or sold on the streets.

A reporter sampling a cookie found that it had a smooth consistency and sucked all the moisture out of the mouth as soon as it touched the tongue. For hours, an unpleasant taste of dirt lingered.

Assessments of the health effects are mixed. Dirt can contain deadly parasites or toxins, but can also strengthen the immunity of fetuses in the womb to certain diseases, said Gerald N. Callahan, an immunology professor at Colorado State University who has studied geography, the scientific name for dirt-eating.

Haitian doctors say depending on the cookies for sustenance risks malnutrition.

"Trust me, if I see someone eating those cookies, I will discourage it," said Dr. Gabriel Thimothee, executive director of Haiti's health ministry.

Marie Noel, 40, sells the cookies in a market to provide for her seven children. Her family also eats them.

"I'm hoping one day I'll have enough food to eat, so I can stop eating these," she said. "I know it's not good for me."]]> http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_2/ http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_2/ Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:57:58 -0400 Longchamp http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_2/ By JONATHAN M. KATZ
Associated Press Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti --
U.N. peacekeepers removed barbed-wire barricades around the presidential palace and some businesses reopened Thursday as an uneasy calm settled over Haiti's capital after three days of violence and looting.

Some roadblocks set up by protesters also came down overnight in Port-au-Prince, where President Rene Preval issued a desperate plea Wednesday for a halt to demonstrations over rising food prices that led to looting and clashes with police.

Women strolled through downtown with baskets of food on their head Thursday, but tensions remained high in the lawless Martissant slum, where some shouted threats at passing cars and fresh graffiti said "Down with Preval!"
"Preval is asking us to do agriculture, but in Port-au-Prince there is no place to do agriculture," said Cavet Roland, ridiculing the president's proposals.

The unrest began last week in the southern city of Les Cayes, where five people were killed, and it spread to cities across Haiti, the poorest country in the hemisphere. Thousands protested in the capital, home to some 2 million people, and bands of looters sacked warehouses and terrorized drivers and shopkeepers with rocks.

After chasing protesters away with tear gas and rubber bullets earlier this week, U.N. troops pulled back from the presidential palace and the Jordanian soldiers relaxed Thursday with their helmets off. But U.N. assault vehicles remained within striking distance.

Many of the protesters have demanded the resignation of the U.S.-backed president, who has been under fire for months over soaring food prices in a country where most people live on less than US$2 (euro1.26) a day.

Most of Haiti's 27 senators have called for the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis, Radio Kiskeya reported Thursday. Alexis, the second in command to Preval, survived a no-confidence vote over the government's handling of the economy in February but the senators said they would call another censure vote on Saturday.

On Wednesday, Preval pledged to try to lower food prices and boost production by helping farmers. He also pleaded for a halt to the violence, telling Haitians that vandalism would only drive up the cost of living.

The U.S. Coast Guard has been watching Haiti for signs of a migrant exodus, but routine patrols have not intercepted any migrant vessels since the unrest began, said Petty Officer Jennifer Johnson, a spokeswoman in Miami. In 1994, the U.S. sent 20,000 troops to the Caribbean nation in part to halt an influx of tens of thousands of boat people.
Food prices have risen 40 percent on average since mid-2007, but Haiti is particularly affected because of its extreme poverty. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on donors Wednesday to provide emergency aid.

]]> http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_3/ http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_3/ Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:03:46 -0400 Longchamp http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_3/ By JACQUELINE CHARLES
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com

PORT AU PRINCE -- Sixteen senators have asked for the resignation of Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis in the wake of several days of street violence over high food prices that appeared to be over Thursday.

Some public transportation resumed and businesses reopened Thursday, and U.N. peacekeepers were taking down some of the roadblocks set up by protesters and barricades set up by security forces during the violence.

But political tensions remained, as highlighted by the 16 senators who sent a letter to Alexis requesting his resignation and then asked the Senate to call a vote of no confidence on the prime minister for Saturday.

Calm returned to the Haitian capital Wednesday just hours after Préval delivered a long-anticipated address on national television. But the lack of immediate relief for hungry Haitians fanned fears that protests would soon pick up again.

Préval announced fertilizer subsidies for farmers to boost production and a government plan to promote the production of eggs, chicken and rice. He dismissed calls for ''easy economics,'' saying the impoverished country could not afford to remove taxes on imported basic food staples. And he called for reason and solidarity, asking the affluent -- including government workers -- to share their wealth with the impoverished.

''I understand your problems and your despair,'' said Préval, casually dressed in a buttoned-up blue Polo shirt as he spoke on state-owned television. ``I offer you sustainable solutions . . . the road to national production and consuming national products. But first of all, we need to get back on the road of peace and work together.''
Some in Haiti and South Florida agreed with Préval's assessment and urged quick action.

''We in the Diaspora are very concerned -- we still have family down there,'' said Miami-based Haitian radio commentator Herntz Phanord. ``Everybody is suffering, except for a few families. It's not fair.''

Phanord said the private sector hasn't done enough to bring in goods or lower food prices to help the poor.
In Belair, Evens Henry, 21, said: ``It's not all about jumping up and down breaking stuff. We have to get to work. If we get to work, we will have food.''

In his half-hour speech, Préval at times aimed his words directly at looters, who earlier in the day ransacked more gas stations, banks and government buildings. During the speech, the sounds of U.N. peacekeepers firing rubber bullets to disperse crowds peppered the background.

''I order you to stop,'' Préval told the looters. ``The police cannot accept violence, and the people will not accept violence.''
''To the people of Haiti who are demonstrating, who are suffering, I ask you to go home,'' Préval pleaded.
Some Haitians expressed frustration with the president's message.

''Nothing has stopped. The cost of living has not gone down. So the demonstrations have not stopped,'' said Sadrac Jean-Dupain, one of the thousands who stormed the streets of the capital for a third consecutive day Wednesday morning.

Equally unimpressed with the president's address was Louines Durandis, 56, an unemployed father of seven. Durandis said that while he credits Préval for pushing production in a country that has become highly dependent on imported food, the lack of concrete measures by the president made his address nothing but talk.

He had hoped Préval would announce a two- to three-month reprieve on import duties on basic food staples. When that did not happen, Durandis said, he became fearful that protesters had retreated only temporarily to ``reflect and strategize.''

''Subsidizing imported goods is not the solution,'' Préval said. ``Today, we are paying the price for more than 20 years of bad political decisions. I'd rather today, we subsidize national production.''

Both Préval supporters and critics voiced discontent at the lack of immediate action coming out of his speech. Many said it was long overdue and did not go far enough to quell the demands of protesters who have been calling for Préval's government to resign.

''It was time for him to speak about national production, but he did not speak about what he is going to do about tomorrow,'' said Pierre Leger, president of the Chamber of Commerce for the Southern Department, where protests first erupted last week week.

A one-time friend who has become one of Préval's harshest critics, Leger long warned the president about the impending social explosions, as did others.

But the president has shown an aversion to pressure. Even after Parliament tried but failed to oust Alexis in February, and after several warnings, Préval did not speak to the nation about the challenges his government was facing. When he did address the rising cost of food in public forums, he offered tongue-in-cheek responses such as a now-famous admonition to Haitians: ``If there is a protest against the rising prices, come to get me at the palace and I will come demonstrate with you.''

His words came back to haunt him Tuesday when protesters tried to storm the palace gate's, and U.N. peackeepers had to be called in. Special correspondent Jean-Cyril Pressoir and Miami Herald staff writer Trenton Daniel contributed to this report.


]]> http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_4/ http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_4/ Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:49:51 -0400 Haitianite http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_4/
Senator Gabriel Fortune said that 16 of Haiti's 27 senators voted in favor of the dismissal in Saturday's session.
The vote reflects widespread frustration over the rising cost of living in the impoverished country that sparked deadly clashes between protesters and U.N. peacekeepers earlier this week.

Earlier Saturday, President Rene Preval had pledged to support any decision the lawmakers make on Alexis.

Alexis survived a no-confidence vote over the government's handling of the economy in February. He was nominated to be prime minister in May 2006.

After the prime minister's dismissal, a U.N. soldier was shot and killed in Port-au-Prince, mission spokeswoman Sophie Boutaud de la Combe said.

U.N. troops did not exchange fire with anyone after the shooting, de la Combe said. The soldier was a member of a 1,000-strong unit that deals with riots, she said.

Fellow peacekeepers said the Nigerian soldier was on his way to buy food. As he drove through the marketplace, he was ordered out of the car and executed, according to accounts from two women who were traveling with him, U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaise said. The two women were not injured, he said.

Preval announced a drop in the price of rice Saturday in a bid to defuse anger over rising food prices.
After meeting with food importers in the national palace, Preval said the price of a 50-pound bag of rice will drop from $51 to $43, a reduction of 15.7 percent.

The Haitian president said that the government will use international aid money to subsidize the price of rice and that the private sector has agreed to knock $3 off the price of each bag.

Preval did not say when the price reduction would go into effect.

He also said he would ask Venezuela for help, especially in providing fertilizer for struggling farmers.

The announcements come in the wake of looting and clashes between hundreds of protesters and U.N. peacekeepers this week.

Protesters blame the government for failing to create jobs and control soaring food prices, and some demonstrators called for Preval's resignation. The violence left at least five people dead.

On Saturday, U.N. military commander Maj. Gen. Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz said that calm was returning across the country, with some transportation resuming and people going back to work.

The U.N. commander said that several social, economic and political changes are still needed in Haiti to maintain the present calm and address the increased cost of living. Cruz did not provide specifics.

"It is important for the people to have a peaceful life in Haiti," he said.

Globally, food prices have risen 40 percent since mid-2007. Haiti, where most people live on less than $2 a day, is particularly affected because it imports nearly all of its food, including more than 80 percent of its rice.

Much of Haiti's once-productive farmland has been abandoned as farmers struggle to grow crops in soil decimated by erosion, deforestation, flooding and tropical storms.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

]]> http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_5/ http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_5/ Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:57:01 -0400 Haitianite http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_5/ Sat Apr 12, 9:53 PM ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) - Haiti's prime minister was ousted Saturday in a no confidence vote after more than a week of violent demonstrations over rocketing food and fuel prices.

Just as President Rene Preval unveiled a plan to cut the price of rice by 15 percent, 16 senators in the upper house of parliament voted unanimously to censure Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis over the crisis, costing him his job leading the government.

With the 10 senators in Alexis's own party absent, the legislators reproached the prime minister for failing to respond to the needs of Haiti's 8.5 million people, 80 percent of whom live on less than two dollars a day.

The move came amid reports that UN peacekeepers fired tear gas at protesters in central Port-au-Prince and that a UN policeman dressed in civilian clothes was shot dead by unknown assailants near the capital's cathedral.

"He was a riot policeman from Nigeria," said Sophie Boutaud de la Combe, spokeswoman for the Minustah force.

Earlier Preval said that he would not block any attempt to remove Alexis. He agreed to work with senate and lower house chiefs to find a replacement.

"If parliament fires the prime minister, I will do what the constitution demands -- I will consult the two parliamentary leaders to name a new prime minister, because no party has a parliamentary majority," Preval said.

Flanked by food importers, Preval announced his plan to bring down rice prices following more than a week of protests and riots that left at least five people dead and 200 injured, according to an unofficial count.

He said the plan would cut the cost of a 50 kilogram (110 pound) bag of rice, which had doubled to 70 dollars within a week, by eight dollars (15 percent).

"It is a move the government has agreed to thanks to the three million dollars in aid provided by the international community," Preval said, adding that the government would also work to encourage more food production.

He defended Alexis as having done what he could in the face of global increases in food prices, and said it was "unfair" to place all the blame on him.

Thousands of people took to the streets around Haiti last week after the latest jump in food and fuel prices, in sometimes violent demonstrations that forced United Nations troops deployed here to intervene.

Blue-helmeted UN peacekeepers were called in to protect the presidential palace, using tear gas and firing into the air to repel demonstrators, radio reports said, while there were also reports of looting.

Preval's government was formed in 2006 after elections that followed two years of turmoil sparked by the departure of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Preval named Alexis as his prime minister, and Alexis won a vote of confidence in the lower house of parliament as recently as a month ago.

However, pressure had grown on the government in the current crisis.

Senator Jean Judnel, who backed Saturday's censure motion, said lawmakers would now "work with the president to chose a new prime minister."

"We will size up that prime minister to see if he can respond to the needs of the population," he told AFP.

"He must be able to listen to the cries of the people," Judnel said.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that Caracas would send Haiti 364 tonnes of emergency food aid, including beef, chicken, milk, cooking oil, lentils and other foods.

Chavez, in Caracas, said the decision was aimed at helping "to ease a crisis that is enormous."
]]> http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_6/ http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_6/ Sun, 13 Apr 2008 14:05:44 -0400 Haitianite http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_6/
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haiti's political leaders began the search for a new prime minister on Sunday after a week of riots sparked by skyrocketing food prices led to the ouster of the impoverished Caribbean nation's government.

The political grapevine buzzed with the names of possible replacements for Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis, who was fired on Saturday in a vote by 16 opposition senators who said he had not done enough to ramp up food production and reduce the cost of living.

By tradition, Alexis was likely to remain in office until a new government leader and cabinet were chosen. President Rene Preval will propose a candidate to parliament, which must ratify the selection.


"The new prime minister needs to be someone who can unify. He should not be partisan," said Anthony Barbier, a sociology professor at Haiti's University of Notre Dame and a member of the Fusion political party.

"It should be someone with great sensitivity toward the poor so that he can look for solidarity in favour of those less privileged," he said.

Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas and one ravaged by political upheaval, dictatorship and military rule since a slave revolt threw off French rule 200 years ago, has struggled to install stable democratic institutions since the end of the Duvalier family reign in 1986.

The latest upheaval follows a week of rioting by Haitians enraged at the soaring cost of rice, beans, cooking oil and other staples.

Preval, who also served as president from 1996 to 2001, is the only elected leader to serve a full term and successfully pass power to a democratic successor.

But he is no stranger to a protracted search for a new prime minister.

In his first term, it took him 21 months to put a new government in place after then-Prime Minister Rosny Smarth resigned in June 1997.

LONG STALEMATE


A stalemate with parliament then left the government virtually paralyzed and hampered negotiations with international donors. Preval nominated two candidates who were rejected by lawmakers before settling on Alexis, who was installed by decree after the legislature was dissolved.

One of Preval's rejected candidates in 1997 is among the names being floated for prime minister by political analysts and radio show hosts now -- Ericq Pierre, a senior adviser with the Inter-American Development Bank.

Analysts were also suggesting long-time politician Paul Denis as a possible candidate.

A former senator with the opposition party Organization for People in the Struggle (OPL), Denis ran unsuccessfully for president against Preval in 2006 and headed a commission of inquiry that in 2005 accused ex-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of misusing $50 million (25.4 million pounds) in public money.

He now serves as an adviser to Preval, as does Evans "Dady" Lescouflair, an OPL member and former secretary of state for youth and sports whose name has also been floated.

Of the three, political analyst Aviol Fleurant, a law professor at the State University of Haiti, said only Pierre had the requisite independence.

"He is not known to be part of any political sector. He is a technician and he should be able to put everybody together because no one has a prejudice against him," Fleurant said.

"Paul Denis would be problematic because he is fundamentally anti-Lavalas," said Fleurant, speaking of the Lavalas political movement started by Aristide, who was ousted in a bloody rebellion in 2004.


Although out of power, the movement still holds great sway with Haiti's poor masses.

Preval gave few hints on the leadership search on Saturday just before the Senate vote against Alexis. He did say, however, that he would make his choice in consultation with the leaders of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.

"What matters to me is stability," he said at a news conference, revealing a glimpse of frustration over yet another failed government with the ouster of an ally and friend.

"I told them we had to work together to put in place a common program ... but it didn't happen."

(Writing by Jim Loney; Editing by Michael Christie and Eric Beech)

© Reuters 2008. All Rights Reserved.

]]> http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_7/ http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_7/ Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:21:48 -0400 Haitianite http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_7/
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The president of the World Bank on Sunday urged immediate action to deal with rapidly rising food prices that have caused hunger and deadly violence in several countries.

Robert Zoellick said the international community has "to put our money where our mouth is" and act now to help hungry people. "It is as stark as that."

He called on governments to rapidly carry out commitments to provide the U.N. World Food Program with $500 million in emergency aid it needs by May 1.

"It is critical that governments confirm their commitments as soon as possible and others begin to commit," Zoellick said. Prices have only risen further since the WFP issued that appeal, so it is urgent that governments step up."

After a meeting of the bank's policy-setting Development Committee, Zoellick said that the fall of the government in Haiti over the weekend after a wave of deadly rioting and looting over food prices underscores the importance of quick international action. A U.N. police officer was killed Sunday in Haiti's capital.

Zoellick said that international finance meetings are "often about talk," but he noted a "greater sense of intensity and focus" among ministers; now, he said, they have to "translate it into greater action."

He said the bank is granting an additional $10 million to Haiti for feeding programs, "and I understand others are looking to help."

Zoellick said the bank was responding to a number of other countries with conditional cash transfer programs, providing food at workplaces, and seeds for planting in the new season.

He said that based on a rough analysis the bank estimates that a doubling of food prices over the last three years could potentially push people in low income countries deeper into poverty.

"This is not just a question of short term needs, as important as they are," Zoellick said." This is about ensuring that future generations don't pay a price too."

Zoellick spoke as the bank and its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, wound up two days of meetings that dealt with the financial crises roiling global markets and rising food and energy prices.

The head of the IMF also sounded the alarm on food prices, warning that if they remain high there will be dire consequences for people in many developing countries, especially in Africa.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn said progress in recent years on development can be destroyed by rising food prices, which can lead to starvation and shake the stability of governments, even if they have nothing to do with the increase in the cost of food. "We are facing a huge problem," he said.

Strauss-Kahn said Saturday that the problem could also create trade imbalances that would impact major advanced economies, "so it is not only a humanitarian question."

He said if the price spike continues, "Thousands, hundreds of thousands of people will be starving. Children will be suffering from malnutrition, with consequences for all their lives."

Mexican Finance Secretary Agustin Carstens, who heads the bank's policy-setting Development Committee, said officials "need to redouble our efforts" to help the poorest people. He said there had been "a very welcome increase in money" from governments, but all donors need to "reach into their pockets" to help.

An open world economy is crucial to global prosperity, he said, urging a successful conclusion to world trade talks.

Zoellick said the bank's Development Committee endorsed his call for a "New Deal for Global Food Policy" that would aim to boost agricultural productivity in poor nations, improve access to food through schools or work places, and help small farmers.

He said earlier this month the bank would nearly double the money it lends for agriculture in Africa from $450 million to $800 million.

Zoellick said he had received positive feedback for his proposal to have sovereign wealth funds -- huge pools of capital controlled by governments -- invest one percent of their resources in Africa. He said this could provide $30 billion to African growth.

He said the bank was following up on the proposal in discussions with countries that have sovereign wealth funds, mainly in Asia and the Middle East, through the International Finance Corporation, the bank's private sector arm.

"Hunger, malnutrition and food policy have formed a recurrent theme at this weekend's meetings, and I believe that we have made progress," Zoellick said. "But it will be important to continue to retain the focus on this as we leave Washington."

First Published: April 13, 2008: 4:40 PM EDT
]]> http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_8/ http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_8/ Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:25:03 -0400 Longchamp http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_8/
President René Préval, who himself overcame maneuvering by opponents before taking office in 2006, must now choose a new government. It won't be easy. There is no majority in the bicameral parliament. Various sectors hope to regain some of the power they lost in recent years, including those loyal to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The charismatic but controversial leader was forced into exile in 2004, two years shy of completing his five-year term. In addition, industrialists, who profited from Haiti's dysfunction, hope to influence the direction of the new administration, as do former Army officers who lost their status when the military was dismantled in 1995.

Choosing a prime minister who will satisfy various, if not competing agendas, is a formidable challenge. As are rising food and fuel costs. Lavi che, the Haitian expression for the high cost of living, was the battle cry in this month's demonstrations that degenerated into rampant lootings and at least six deaths, including that of a United Nations peacekeeper. Today, Haitians jest that Clorox is the best medicine for their hunger. If that doesn't work, they recommend battery acid because it kills more than the pain.

Increasing food prices are not unique to Haiti – global food reserves are at their lowest in nearly four decades and continue to fall. The World Food Program sent out an extraordinary appeal to donors for an additional $500 million in March. Food cost inflation in the US is the highest in 17 years. The World Bank warned that civil disturbances may be triggered in 33 countries. To circumvent this, governments from Central America to Indonesia are curbing exports and lifting import duties on staples.

Préval quelled the worst of Haiti's protests by, among other steps, cutting the cost of rice, which has doubled in recent months to $70 for a 110-lb. bag. The World Bank has promised Haiti $10 million in emergency aid; Venezuela plans to send chicken, mortadella, milk, and lentils.

With the vast majority of Haiti's 8.5 million trying to survive on just $2 a day, eking out even an extra penny is as difficult as the government's challenge of providing electricity – or potable water, inaccessible to 75 percent of the population. It is the poorest country in the hemisphere.

It wasn't always this way. Haiti used to be the lushest island in the region; rice and coffee were major exports. But political turmoil, mismanagement, lack of planning, deforestation, and natural disasters have taken their toll. Today, less than 2 percent of the country is forested.

The international community has a stake in Haiti because 99 percent of Haiti's budget comes from abroad. The US cares because Haiti is just 500 miles from Florida. When things turn sour there, it becomes a domestic problem here.

There are things that we could, and should, do differently. For immediate relief, Washington should grant temporary protected status (TPS) to Haitians living in the United States. TPS is awarded to undocumented immigrants from countries experiencing armed conflict and environmental disasters: it requires nothing more than the president's signature. Citizens from seven countries currently profit from TPS, but Haitians have never benefited from this status. This is ironic, given that this month the US banned government officials from traveling to Haiti and advised the 19,000 American citizens living there to leave.

Haiti has 2,500 miles of roads, only a quarter of which are paved. Rather than pay consultants a daily stipend that exceeds a Haitian's yearly income, send technicians to tarmac roads that will facilitate the distribution of locally grown food. Put in an irrigation system that will diminish damage from seasonal flooding. Stock cargo containers with fertilizers and seeds, not used clothing. Teach residents desperate for work how to set up purification systems for garbage that can be landscaped rather than dumped into the surrounding waters.

Encourage the Haitian diaspora to return – 80 percent of college-educated Haitians live abroad. Put their expertise to use. Similarly, invite the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai of Kenya, who mobilized poor African women to plant more than 30 million trees, to work with Haiti's agricultural ministry. Reforestation is as much about understanding the culture as it is planting.

You can't pick the fruit if you don't start with the root, a Haitian proverb says. It's time to get Haiti on its feet. If not, the new government will have no better chance of succeeding than the one it just replaced.

• Kathie Klarreich, author of "Madame Dread: A Tale of Love, Vodou, and Civil Strife in Haiti," has covered Haiti as a journalist for more than 20 years.

]]> http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_9/ http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_9/ Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:14:59 -0400 Haitianite http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_9/
Posted on Fri, Apr. 25, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
By JACQUELINE CHARLES AND PABLO BACHELET
pbachelet@MiamiHerald.com

WASHINGTON -- Alarmed that Haiti's hard-won stability could be swept away by the food crisis, a broad coalition of international donors and countries is rallying to assist President René Préval with emergency grants and soft loans.

On Thursday, an international delegation led by the head of the Organization of American States and top officials from the United States, Canada, the European Union, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina traveled to Haiti to meet with Préval, who is attempting to form a new government after his prime minister was forced out following riots over rising food prices. Officials from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are also in Port-au-Prince for discussions.

''The world community has an obligation to do everything it can,'' said Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, who on Wednesday sent President Bush a letter asking for more assistance. ``And even when it feels it's done enough, to dig deeper and do more.''

Haiti was supposed to be the venue for a donor's conference this week, but earlier this month at least five protesters and one U.N. peacekeeper were killed during riots, forcing the conference's postponement. The international delegation led by OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza flew to Haiti anyway, reflecting the international community's concern that the country, after billions of dollars in international assistance and the presence of 9,000 United Nations security forces, could slip into chaos as Haitians grow angry over the soaring costs of rice, wheat and other staples.

The crisis also drew delegations from Cuba, Venezuela and France and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the leader of Rainbow/Push Coalition. Though Haiti will get an infusion of cash, Préval is renewing his calls for greater assistance, including more help to deal with drug-trafficking gangs, quick passage of a textile trade bill by the U.S. Congress and temporary protected status for its migrants in the United States.

AGRICULTURAL AID

Préval is also requesting fertilizer and other equipment to bolster agricultural production and wants about $60 million from the United States to help subsidize the purchase of rice, flour and cooking oil and maintain steady prices for the next six months.

The Bush administration has released $200 million for emergency food aid worldwide, though it is not clear how much will be for Haiti. Meek wants Bush to earmark at least $15 million for the Caribbean nation.

''We want to show support and hold discussions on how we can help in the emergency,'' Insulza said in a telephone interview just before boarding the flight from Miami to Port-au-Prince.

Insulza called the Haitian situation ''sad'' given the country's recent progress after decades of instability and decay, but he considered the government to be stable. ''We have to show we support Préval,'' he said.

While some are pushing to erase Haiti's debt, Insulza said, ``there is a lot of debt that has been wiped out, and not being collected at this moment. No one is pressing Haiti to pay debt. It is not the most pressing problem Préval has today.''

Indeed Préval's biggest challenge is rebuilding the coalition government, and staving off political challenges from Haitian senators, who orchestrated the April 12 firing of Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis.

There is growing concern over not just whether the new government will continue with the reforms put in place over the past two years -- anti-corruption, tax collection and economic growth -- but whether it will be able to do so while meeting the basic needs of a population increasingly unable to afford even a $4 pound of rice.

`SAFETY NET'

Joel Boutroue, the United Nations Development Program resident representative in Haiti, said international donors need to have a serious dialogue on how to create ''a much stronger safety net'' in the country especially in the area of development.

Many activists say the international community should pardon payments this year totaling more than $40 million owed to international financial institutions.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) should ''in essence place a moratorium on the debt service payment,'' said Neil Watkins, with the Jubilee USA Network, a coalition of religious denominations, human rights organizations and other groups that lobby for debt forgiveness. ``It's unconscionable for Haiti to make those payments right now.''

In November 2006, Haiti signed a multi-year program with the IMF that would culminate with a pardon of nearly $1 billion of the $1.6 billion the country owes multilateral institutions like the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank.

According to that program, IMF officials say, Haiti is not eligible for the bulk of the debt pardon until November of this year, so the country will have to make a $44 million payment to its multilateral debtors this year.

But officials also point out that Haiti's debt payment would have been even higher and that if powerful countries like the United States agree, the payment could be written off.

Andreas Bauer, the IMF official who traveled to Haiti to evaluate the situation, said the economic outlook was ''a challenge'' for a country that had to import large quantities of food and oil.

Before the food riots, Haiti's economy appeared to be turning the corner after years of stagnation. The IMF estimated a growth rate of 3.2 percent in 2007, against an average of 1.8 percent in 1995-2004. Inflation was also on the decline.

Some aid is coming in.

The IDB plans to approve next week a $12.5 million grant for Haiti and has agreed to redirect an additional $14.5 million soft loan originally earmarked for tax reforms to emergency food subsidy programs and other needs, said IDB spokesman Peter Bates.

EMERGENCY CASH

The World Bank is also rushing a $10 million grant for Haiti. Yvonne Tsikata, the country director for Haiti, says the approval process usual takes several months, but she hopes to get everything ready in three or four weeks.

In a meeting Monday in Haiti, Préval told Meek he needs 30,000 metric tons of rice, 15,000 tons of wheat and 7,000 tons of cooking oil every month. He also urged Congress to pass a bill that would give Haiti greater access to the U.S. textile market, and for the Bush administration to expand its anti-drug trafficking assistance and provide temporary protected status for Haitians in the United States illegally.

''To sit by and watch this government get to the point where it can't function and that we have unrest in the street is not an option,'' Meek said.



]]> http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_10/ http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_10/ Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:20:50 -0400 Haitianite http://my.haitianite.com/article/article_10/
President Rene Preval chose Ericq Pierre, 63, a respected Haitian economist with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington, to be the country's prime minister, Senate President Kelly Bastien and Chamber or Deputies president Pierre-Eric Jean-Jacques told AFP.

Pierre, whose nomination must now pass a vote in parliament, would succeed former premier Jacques-Edouard Alexis, who was forced to resign on April 12 after a no-confidence vote followed food riots that killed six people and wounded around 200.

It was the first major political crisis to seize the country since Preval was elected president of the impoverished nation in February 2006, after two years of turmoil sparked by the departure of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Thousands of people took to the streets around Haiti earlier this month due to the latest jump in food and fuel prices, in sometimes violent demonstrations that forced United Nations troops deployed here to intervene.

One Nigerian peacekeeper was killed in the riots and three Sri-Lankan peacekeepers were wounded.

In a bid to quell the frustrations, Preval announced a plan to bring down rice prices by cutting the cost of a 50-kilogram (110-pound) bag of rice that had doubled to 70 dollars within a week, by eight dollars, or 15 percent.

He defended Alexis as having done what he could in the face of global increases in food prices, and said it was "unfair" to place all the blame on him.

However, pressure had grown on the government in the current crisis, felt around the world and particularly in Haiti, where 70 percent of the population lives on less than two dollars per day.

Half of the Haitian population of 8.5 million people is unemployed.

Pierre, who lives in Washington and works as an advisor on Haiti to the IDB, was named in 1999 by Preval to serve as prime minister, but did not receive enough votes in parliament to be confirmed.

This time, however, several lawmakers said they believed his nomination would pass muster.

"The Lavalas party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in exile in South Africa, is ready to vote for the nomination of Mr. Pierre," Senator Rudy Heriveaux told AFP.

"I believe that he (Pierre) perfectly matches the profile that all the sectors have recommended. I hope though that he will listen to their demands," said Heriveaux, who met Sunday with Preval hours before the official announcement of the Pierre nomination.

"We are going to hold a meeting of party leaders to decide our position," said the social-democratic Fusion party, a center-left grouping of around 20 parliamentarians.

One diplomat said "Preval was without doubt assured of (Pierre's) approval by political forces within Parliament before he made his choice."

"He had time to consult all the sectors of the chamber and in the Senate, and one can assume that the choice will be accepted," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Blue-helmeted UN peacekeepers were called in to protect the presidential palace, using tear gas and firing into the air to repel demonstrators at the height of the unrest.

Among the six people killed in the disturbances was a 36-year-old, out-of-uniform UN police officer from Nigeria.

The 10,000-strong United Nations Stabilization Force in Haiti (MINUSTAH) launched a joint investigation with Haitian police into the killing.
]]>