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Haiti Report for December 5, 2006

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

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Haiti Report for December 5, 2006

The Haiti Report is a compilation and summary of events as described
in Haiti and international media prepared by Konbit Pou Ayiti/KONPAY.
It does not reflect the opinions of any individual or organization.
This service is intended to create a better understanding of the
situation in Haiti by presenting the reader with reports that provide
a variety of perspectives on the situation.

To make a donation to support this service: Konbit Pou Ayiti, 7 Wall
Street, Gloucester, MA, 01930 or visit our website: www.konpay.org

IN THIS REPORT:
- - Inmates Burrow out of National Penitentiary
- - Floods Destroy Roads, Kill Several
- - UN says Haiti donors should focus on civil service
- - Third Jacmel Film Festival
- - Local and Municipal Elections Take Place
- - Former Finance Minister Kidnapped
- - US Highlights Positive Developments
- - Donors Conference in Madrid
- - Members of House of Deputies Critical of Insecurity
- - Electricity Shortage in Port-au-Prince
- - IDB Approves Debt Relief for Haiti
- - Haitis Stealth Elections: Whats At Stake?
- - The Economist: Haiti on the mend?
- - Worlds AIDS Day Commentary

Inmates Burrow out of National Penitentiary:
As many as 30 inmates burrowed through a prison wall and escaped in
the latest in a string of breakouts from Haiti's largest
penitentiary, police said Tuesday. Describing Monday's daylight
breakout, witnesses told local media that prisoners waited for a
police patrol to pass before slipping through the 50-centimeter (20-
inch) hole and fleeing the overcrowded National Penitentiary, just
blocks from Haiti's National Palace. Police quickly cordoned off the
area and searched houses for the inmates. It wasn't immediately clear
how many escaped, but officials said up to 30 prisoners may be
missing. Police Inspector General Fritz Jean told reporters the
escape was under investigation, and private radio Kiskeya reported
that four prison guards had been arrested on suspicion of
involvement. Police spokesman Frantz Lerebours declined to take
questions when reached by phone, saying senior authorities were
meeting to discuss the escape. In July, 26 Haitian convicts deported
from the United States escaped from a holding cell at the National
Penitentiary. In Feb. 2005, nearly 500 prisoners escaped from the
National Penitentiary in a jail break allegedly aided by corrupt
guards who unlocked the doors and allowed inmates to flee. A year
earlier, hundreds of prisoners escaped amid the chaos of a revolt
that toppled former president Jean Bertrand Aristide on Feb. 29,
2004. The prison was built nearly 100 years ago to house 800
prisoners but reportedly holds twice that number, many of whom have
languished in squalor for years while awaiting resolution of their
case. When President Rene Preval took the oath of office in May,
inmates rioted and gathered on the prison roof where they held aloft
signs demanding their freedom. (AP, 12/5)

Floods Destroy Roads, Kill Several:
At least four people are confirmed dead and 100 are newly homeless in
Haiti after days of heavy rain soaked the Caribbean nation's southern
and northern peninsula. Haiti's Civil Protection Agency confirmed the
deaths in Jirimie, a town along the country's southern peninsula, and
is investigating reports of at least two people missing in the
northwest, said Sophie Boutaud de la Combe, spokeswoman for the U.N.
stabilization mission in Haiti. ''The floods are under control,''
Boutaud de la Combe said in a telephone interview. In Jirimie the
torrential downpour that began Wednesday night and continued well
into Saturday, carried away homes and made roads impassable after
mudslides and rocks choked the roadway. The town's main hospital also
was severely damaged, and 100 town residents had to be relocated to a
shelter. As a result of severe soil erosion, brought on by
deforestation, Haiti has long been vulnerable to flooding and
mudslides. ''Up to now, we cannot give a final count on how many
people have died,'' Jean-Claude Delizaire, an officer with the
Haitian National Police in Jirimie said in a telephone interview. ``A
lot of people are homeless.'' Delizaire and others say there doesn't
appear to be any relief in sight from the rain, which continued up to
Saturday evening. The General Hospital, which sits at the bottom of a
hill, was severely damaged when the roof could no longer sustain the
heavy rain and water began pouring in, flooding patients and surgical
rooms. Water also rushed into the hospital when a retaining wall
outside the building collapsed.

In the northwest, torrential rain caused a river to overflow. The
river flows through the center of Jean-Rabel, a small town on the
northwest tip of Haiti and 23 miles west of Port-de-Paix. Homes in
Port-de-Paix were also carried away by the floods. Jean-Rabel's only
morgue, a gift from the community, was washed away. So were several
homes and the main beach, Bord-de-Mer, said Father Reginald Jean-
Mary, the priest at Notre Dame d'Haiti Roman Catholic Church in
Little Haiti. (Miami Herald, 11/27)

Floods triggered by nearly two weeks of heavy rain have washed away
roads and bridges, wiped out crops and killed at least three people
in western Haiti, the International Red Cross said Tuesday. The
destruction has been most severe in the rural departments of Grande
Anse and Nippes, along the impoverished Caribbean nation's vulnerable
southwestern peninsula. Flooding has also affected the northwestern
town of Port-de-Paix. Haitian Red Cross workers have been providing
first aid to injured residents and moving flood-stricken villagers to
temporary shelters, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies said. The Geneva-based group said it has asked
donors for $522,800 to buy hygiene kits, water, blankets and mosquito
nets for 17,500 people affected by flooding. The rain began Nov. 22,
unleashing flash floods that killed livestock, damaged two hospitals
and isolated many remote villages in the heavily deforested country.
In August, Hurricane Ernesto washed away wooden shacks and killed at
least two people along Haiti's peninsula. (AP, 12/5)

UN says Haiti donors should focus on civil service:
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. (Reuters, 11/28)

Third Jacmel Film Festival:
A Port-au-Prince slum where armed gangs and ricocheting bullets are a
way of life hardly seems a good place to go to the movies. But for
Haiti-born hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean and organizers of the Festival
Film Jakmel -- which is in full swing this week -- the Citi Soleil
slum is not only the ideal place for a movie theater, but also a
whisper of hope for their most daring social experiment yet. After
the final credits roll Saturday at the film festival in the southern
city of Jacmel, a customized four-wheel-drive truck packing a 15-foot
tall screen and sound system will begin a tour of Haiti, parking in
soccer fields and public squares to showcase a series of films. First
stops: Citi Soleil and some of the other most volatile neighborhoods
of the Haitian capital. ''For the poorest of the poor in the ghettos
of Port-au-Prince, this is extremely important,'' said American
filmmaker David Belle, one of the founders of the film festival. ``We
are bringing inspiring messages of hope and progress to them, and
offering them a distraction from the hardships of daily survival.''
In its third year, the film festival began as a way to celebrate
Haiti's bicentennial and transform Jacmel, an artsy coastal town
three hours south of Port-au-Prince, into a tourist destination. The
event, which began this year on Nov. 24, has since flourished and
attracted an estimated 50,000 visitors last year. But this year,
Belle decided to team up with Jean's Yile Haiti Foundation and the
French Alliance Franc8aise to take the show on the road. Six of the
92 films being screened in Jacmel also will be shown in Port-au-
Prince neighborhoods beginning Dec. 11.

While no one expects the screenings to immediately change life in
Haiti, where the slums have become ground zero in the armed conflict
between gangs, Haitian police and U.N. peacekeepers, Jean believes
they can plant seeds of change. ''In America, we provide
opportunities and statistically this has worked,'' said Jean, who
will wrap up the Jacmel festival with a free beachfront concert
tonight -- his first performance in his homeland in nearly a decade.
''We go into slum areas, we go into projects, we put programs.
Despite the violence, we still see a change within the community,''
he told The Miami Herald. ``And does everybody get saved? No. A few
get saved. But the few that do get saved are able to go back into the
community and keep helping.'' As he talks about his vision, Jean's
voice rises with excitement. He's an admirer of reggae icon Bob
Marley and likens what he is trying to do to what the Jamaican-born
star did for the ghettos of Kingston, Jamaica: use music to give
voice to the plight of ghetto life. ''The goal that I hope for is the
same goal that . . . got me here,'' Jean said in a telephone
interview. 'People say, `You go into these places and as soon as you
leave there is another shooting. What's the point?' The point
is, if you turn around and forget these kids and keep walking
forward, there would not be a Wyclef Jean today.'' (Miami Herald, 12/1)

Wyclef Jean called on his Haitian countrymen to reject violence and
work for a stable future during a free concert aimed at promoting
development in the impoverished nation. "It's time to build a new
Haiti," the Grammy-winning artist told more than 20,000 cheering fans
Friday night at the waterfront pier of this resort town. It was his
first concert in Haiti in eight years. The concert capped off a
weeklong film and culture festival organized by Jean's Yele Haiti
charity, which promotes music and the arts as a way to reduce
poverty, create jobs and improve Haiti's image. Jean, a Haitian
citizen who lives in the United States, condemned the ongoing street
violence that has followed the revolt, especially a wave of
kidnappings for ransom that have plagued the capital, Port-au-Prince.
"If we don't stop kidnappings, the country can't develop," Jean said.
Jean was born in Haiti but left for the United States with his family
at age 9. He later achieved world fame through his hip-hop band, The
Fugees. (AP, 12/3)

Local and Municipal Elections Take Place:
Haitians cast ballots Sunday in municipal and local elections that
were billed as the final step in the troubled country's return to
democratic rule. Some 29,000 candidates were vying for 1,420 local
and municipal posts in Sunday's vote, which was marked by low voter
turnout and isolated reports of violence. The elections took place
more than a year late because of street violence and logistical
delays. Final results were not expected for several days. On Sunday,
assailants burned two polling stations, and shot and wounded a man in
the northern town of Limonade, local media reported. Police later
shot and wounded a Fusion party official after they found him with
two Molotov cocktails. In the Port-au-Prince slum of Martissant,
automatic gunfire rang out after polls opened, but there were no
immediate reports of injuries. Rival gangs have been fighting for
weeks and had threatened to disrupt the polling, residents said.
United Nations peacekeepers used tear gas to disperse a small crowd
that shouted anti-U.N. slogans at a polling station in Cite Soleil, a
volatile slum on the edge of Port-au-Prince. Voter turnout appeared
low in most parts of the capital of Port-au-Prince, with many polling
stations virtually empty. Officials had predicted turnout at 40 to 50
percent, well below the massive participation in February's
presidential vote won by Rene Preval. Visiting a polling center in
the capital, Preval's prime minister, Jacques Edouard Alexis, praised
the organization of the elections but said he had hoped for a higher
turnout. "Citizens must be informed of the importance of local
communities," Alexis told local Radio Metropole. (AP, 12/3)

An off-duty police officer was killed and several people were wounded
on Sunday during local elections in Haiti, police said. The officer
was shot in the head by gunmen near the slum of Martissant in the
capital, Port-au-Prince, police Inspector General Jean Saint-Fleur
said. "We have opened an investigation into the murder of the
policeman and other acts of violence while we try to keep the
situation under control," said Saint-Fleur. The motive for the
killing was not immediately clear but a witness said the police
officer was killed after a dispute with two people linked with a
political party. Haitians were choosing more than 1,000 mayors and
other local officials out of more than 29,000 candidates. The winners
of the elections will control the nomination process for an electoral
council that will organize elections for the next decade. Victory
also gives the winning party authority over the nomination process of
judges and executive powers for local administrations. Two people
were injured by gunfire during incidents resulting from a conflict
among rival candidates in the northern city of Gonaives, while two
other people who possessed handmade bombs were wounded by police in
the town of Limonade. Heavy gunfire was heard through the weekend in
several slum areas in the capital such as Martissant and Fontamara.
Police said they had arrested several people who tried to enter
polling centers with guns or were involved in electoral fraud.
Witnesses reported a series of electoral frauds in the capital,
Gonaives, Hinche and Jeremie. "I saw with my own eyes a poll worker
fraudulently inserting ballots into the box," said Maxon Maurice, who
complained he couldn't find his name on the voters' list in a polling
center in the capital. Officials at the polling center denied the
allegation. (Reuters, 12/3)

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) today
expressed satisfaction with the conduct of elections in the country
while voicing concern at isolated outbreaks of violence. In a
statement released in Port-au-Prince, the Secretary-General's Special
Representative, Edmond Mulet, said the start of the process allowing
Haitians to elect representatives and finish a number of legislative
run-off elections had been good. But MINUSTAH said it nevertheless
regretted the isolated incidents of violence which upset the
balloting, even if these affected only a small percentage of the
electorate. The Mission's 6,500-plus troops and 1,700 police were
tasked with providing security and logistic support throughout the
country, including distributing election material to some 9,200
polling stations. (UN News, 12/3)

Former Finance Minister Kidnapped:
Fred Joseph, Minister of Finance and the Economy in the first
government of Reni Prival (1996-2001), was abducted Wednesday
evening in Port-au-Prince. The former official was on his way home
when he was seized by armed men and taken to an unknown destination.
As the news was announced, police patrols sealed off a number of
streets in the capital, particularly in upper Delmas and Frhres. The
investigations have not yet produced the desired results. It appears
that the kidnappers have made contact with Mr. Joseph's family and
the vehicle in which he was traveling has reportedly been found. In
certain quarters close to the presidency, the kidnapping is seen as a
message to President Prival, as he is known to be close to the former
Finance Minister. The people of Port-au-Prince are on a heightened
state of alert since the killing of a young girl and child who were
found dead in separate incidents after having been kidnapped. Several
sectors criticized Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis for having
said that his government remains in favor of dialogue with those who
possess illegal weapons. (AHP, 11/30)

US Highlights Positive Developments:
The United States sees a number of positive developments in Haiti,
even though the country remains the least-developed nation in the
Americas and one of the poorest in the world, says Thomas Shannon,
U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. In
remarks prepared for an international conference of donors for Haiti
held in Madrid, Spain, Shannon said November 30 that the United
States welcomes the Haitian governments continued sound fiscal and
monetary policies and its efforts to increase revenues. He said the
country successfully closed its fiscal year 2006 budget deficit. In
addition, Shannon said Haitis recently adopted fiscal year 2007
budget also demonstrates sound fiscal policy. The United States,
said Shannon, also welcomes the results of a recent review by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank of Haitis
participation in the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) debt
initiative, and another program called the Poverty Reduction and
Growth Facility. Shannon said both programs are moving forward and
that adhering to targets within the poverty reduction facility will
be critical for Haitis macroeconomic stability and full debt relief
under HIPC. The HIPC establishes a process that allows the world's
poorest countries that are saddled with exceptionally high debt
burdens to negotiate reductions in loan payments and in their total
debt stocks, while the poverty reduction program is the IMF's low-
interest lending facility for low-income countries. The IMF
announced September 18 that Haiti was eligible for assistance under
the HIPC.

The November 29-30 meeting in Madrid, organized by the Spanish
government, was designed to ensure that the aid Haiti previously
received from the international community is being used effectively
and efficiently, an official from the State Departments Office of
Caribbean Affairs told USINFO in a November 29 interview. Shannon,
the State Departments top policymaker for the Americas, headed the
U.S. delegation in Madrid. Also attending the meeting from the State
Department was Brian Nichols, director of the Office of Caribbean
Affairs. Other U.S. officials at the Madrid conference included
Adolfo Franco, assistant administrator for Latin America and the
Caribbean at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID);
Paul Tuebner, USAIDs mission director for Haiti; and Anna Jewell,
deputy director of the Western Hemisphere Office at the U.S. Treasury
Department.

The agenda for the Madrid meeting, coming at a time when Haiti has
been described as at a crucial moment in its history, included
discussions on creating conditions for political stability and
economic relaunching in the country. This subject included
analyzing the countrys difficult security situation, reforming the
countrys justice sector and national police and the Haitian
governments strategy for poverty reduction. Shannon also emphasized
in his remarks the importance of the U.S.-backed U.N. stabilization
mission in Haiti, known by the acronym MINUSTAH. Shannon said that
when the U.N. mission first was established in Haiti in 2004, its
purpose was to maintain order and create an environment for holding
elections in the country. The United States and the international
community hailed the February 7 election of Haiti's new president,
Reni Prival, and his subsequent inauguration May 14. MINUSTAH
succeeded in its initial task, said Shannon, but now its purpose
must be to facilitate a secure environment for good governance and
economic development in Haiti. (USINFO is produced by the Bureau of
International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web
site: http://usinfo.state.gov, 12/1)

Donors Conference in Madrid:
Haiti and delegates at a donors conference in Madrid have agreed to
operate with greater efficiency in the use of funds in the Caribbean
nation. The commitment came after Haiti's prime minister said that
99%% of the $750m (#382m) pledged in July had not reached their
intended destinations in Haiti. Since 2004, foreign governments have
promised more than $1.5bn (#763m) to the poorest country in the
Americas. Teams from 30 nations and aid agencies attended the forum
in Spain's capital. The conference was called to examine how much
money Haiti had received since the aid pledge was made at a similar
gathering in July in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. It also
aimed to discuss how the country's new elected government planned to
carry out reforms to fight rampant corruption, violence and poverty.
Addressing the forum, Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis
said: "So far, 99%% of this money has not really been disbursed." Mr
Alexis said he had held talks with the donors how to devise a fast-
track mechanism to channel the money for urgent aid projects. The
conference's participants also agreed that they needed to operate and
with greater transparency in the use of pledged funds. Mr Alexis also
urged the delegates to continue to support Haiti during what he
called a turning point in its development. (BBC, 11/30)

Members of House of Deputies Critical of Insecurity:
Several members of the House of Deputies on Tuesday criticized what
they termed the slow pace of the Haitian authorities in putting an
end to the climate of insecurity that has prevailed in the capital in
recent days. The Deputies were particularly upset about the murder
of a 17 year-old girl named Farah Dessources and a seven-year-old boy
named Karl Ruben Francillon, both of whom had been kidnapped in
separate incidents, with the boy being abducted with the apparent
complicity of the family driver. At a news conference organized by
the security commission of the Lower House, Deputy Frantz Robert
Mondi considered it unacceptable that individuals can carry out such
murders that bring tremendous grief to Haitian families with
impunity. The government needs to adopt urgent measures to improve
the situation, otherwise the government does not exist, said Robert
Mondi. He announced that the Superior Council of the National Police
(CSPN) will be convened in the near future to provide an explanation
of the situation. Deputy Jean Camille Desmaratte also condemned the
climate of violence and insecurity in which the inhabitants of Port-
au-Prince are living. "The country is on the way to disappearing,
it's total failure", said Mr. Dimaratte, appealing to the authorities
to assume their responsibilities in this matter. For his part,
Deputy Steven Benont called for the dismissal of the authorities
responsible for maintaining the climate of peace so necessary to the
Haitian people unless they can deliver the goods. He was referring
to the Minister of Justice, the Secretary of state for Public
Security, as well as the director general and the chief inspector
general of the police. Mr. Benont spoke in favor of re-convening the
security officials to obtain an update on the situation. Several
Deputies said that if the situation continues to deteriorate in this
manner, it risks attaining the infernal level that occurred under the
interim government of Girard Latortue. (AHP, 11/28)

Electricity Shortage in Port-au-Prince:
The Director General of EDH (Electricity of Haiti), engineer Serge
Raphael, announced Friday that an improvement in the supply of
electricity in Port-au-Prince will take place next week. For the past
three weeks or so, residents of the capital have been subjected to a
drastic rationing program of just two to three hours per day. In
some neighborhoods, electricity is only available every two or three
days. Mr. Raphael explained that this rationing is due to the fact
that the power plant at Piligre, which generates up to 45 megawatts
of electricity, enough energy for eight hours of electric service per
day, can no longer produce that amount of power. The EDH is
operating for the time being with only two of the three generators at
Piligre, one of which is having mechanical problems, said the
director. This means that it can't produce the desired 30 megawatts
of power. At the moment, only 24 megawatts are available, he said.
The additional electricity, which has been coming from private energy
producers at a cost to the public treasury of millions of dollars per
month, has been suspended to reduce government expenditures, as EDH
is insolvent. The State has recently purchased power from Alstom
Power and Sogener. Previously, it was doing business with
Caterpillar. The EDH general manager announced that customers should
see an improvement in the distribution of electricity starting next
week. The Varreux I power station has a 9 megawatt generator that
can be placed online immediately. This can ensure that EDH can
produce 33 megawatts, with distribution available about six hours
per day, said Mr. Raphael. He confirmed statements by the Public
Works Minister warning that the energy situation will be very
difficult in January with the start of the dry season. "Beginning in
that month, Piligre will only be able to utilize one 15 megawatt
generator, which in combination with the 9 megawatts produced by
Varreux will yield a total of only 24 megawatts", said Serge
Raphael. It will be up to the authorities to work out arrangements
with private power producers to increase the electricity supply. This
is a decision that will require large expenditures, he added. The
EDH director urged customers to remain confident because the
authorities are committed to improving the situation. EDH is now
taking bids for the purchase of 30 megawatts that are expected to
become available at any moment, he said. However, he also urged
customers to pay their bills, because the company's current receipts
are insignificant. (AHP, 11/24)

IDB Approves Debt Relief for Haiti:
The Inter-American Development Bank on Friday accepted a U.S.-
promoted proposal to pardon between $2.1 and $3.5 billion for five
poor Latin American nations including Bolivia, a nation that opposes
U.S. policies. The Bush administration has been pushing for the
relief since March, when it proposed the operation despite resistance
from several Latin American countries because of concerns that the
write-off would weaken the IDB's ability to provide subsidized loans
in the future, officials said. The Latin American nations wanted the
United States and other wealthy countries to help pay for the
operation, but Washington argued that the IDB was strong enough to
take the hit. The delay meant that the IDB did not join the World
Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development
Bank in announcing last year a similar debt relief operation for poor
countries from other regions. The IDB is the biggest official lender
in Latin America.

''This is great news for the more than 30 million people in these
five countries,'' said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno. U.S.
officials were clearly pleased at the result of the meeting Friday,
as it will help soften the Bush administration's image in Latin
America as a hard-edged promoter of open-market policies and free
trade. Bolivian President Evo Morales has sharply criticized U.S.
policies as ''imperialistic,'' and Nicaragua is set to be governed by
old-time Sandinista foe Daniel Ortega, also a left-wing critic of
Washington. ''The United States has been a leading voice for such an
initiative,'' said the Treasury Department's assistant secretary for
international affairs, Clay Lowery, ``and today's agreement on a way
forward is a critical step in that effort.'' The deal left some
significant details to be worked out later, U.S. and bank officials say.

The IDB board of governors did not decide on the critical matter of
when the debt relief will kick in -- something that could add or
subtract hundreds of millions of dollars from the package. The Bush
administration wants a more generous Dec. 31, 2004, cut-off, which
would work out to the $3.5 billion relief. This would mean Bolivia
will obtain $768 million in debt relief, Guyana $365 million, Haiti
$468 million, Honduras $1.1 billion and Nicaragua $808 million. IDB's
managers and other countries have suggested earlier dates,
potentially reducing the package to $2.1 billion, according to
numbers provided by Jubilee USA Network, a nonpartisan group that
advocates for poor-country relief. Top IDB officials will meet again
in January in Amsterdam to finalize the agreement. A signing ceremony
is expected in March. Nations must first obtain the IMF's seal of
approval for their economic program, something Haiti still lacks. But
U.S. officials expect this to happen soon. Once Haiti gets the
agreement, the country would receive as of yet unspecified benefits
beyond what the other four countries will obtain, given its position
as the hemisphere's poorest nation, the Treasury Department said.
(Miami Herald, 11/18)

Haitis Stealth Elections: Whats At Stake?
Tomorrow Haitians will vote in historic elections that are as ignored
as they are important. Although they are receiving little attention
in the foreign, and even Haitian press, the elections will establish,
for the first time in nineteen years, the radically democratic and
decentralized foundation of Haitis 1987 Constitution. The
International attention available for elections in poor countries is
focused on Venezuelas Presidential race the same day. Haitis
President, Reni Prival, is in Havana today, commemorating the 50th
anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Even the members of the
Haitianpolitics listserve have other things on their mind: todays
postings include analyses of politics in Venezuela, Cuba, Lebanon and
France, but no mention of tomorrows voting in Haiti. Haitis
elections are for municipal and local posts, which attract less
attention in any country. They are also a year late- they were
originally scheduled for November 2005 by the dictatorial Interim
Government of Haiti (IGH), but postponed several times, even as Haiti
elected a President and Parliament last spring.

More important, many popular candidates are not running. Although the
IGH is gone- Prime Minister Girard Latortue fled to the U.S. to avoid
prosecution for fraud and murder- the Provisional Electoral Council
it appointed is still running the voting. The Council declined to re-
open candidate registration, which excluded candidates who feared to
register under the IGH, but were willing to participate under the
democratic Prival government. The exclusion particularly impacted
Haitis largest political party, Fanmi Lavalas, which boycotted the
2005 registration because the IGH was routinely arresting and/or
killing its leaders and grassroots activists. Although some local
candidates registered under the partys banner anyway, they did so in
less than half the races, and those candidates were not vetted or
approved by the national organization. On the ground in Haiti, people
do care about the elections, because they know what is at stake. Over
29,000 candidates are running for 1,420 positions. Grassroots
activists are organizing an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign,
spreading the word through informal networks and progressive radio
stations. They are predicting a decent turnout, albeit below the
levels seen for Presidential elections.

What is at stake Sunday is the soul of Haitis government
established by the 1987 Constitution: a pyramid structure based on
4-6 person local assemblies, called ASECS (Assemblis des Sections
Communales). The ASEC system is designed to radically decentralize
political power and ensure grassroots participation at the highest
levels of government. It is so radical that the powers-that-be,
including a broad spectrum of Haitian governments and members of the
International Community- the United Nations, the Organization of
American States and the United States, all of which have played an
active role in the details of Haitis elections- have ignored this
foundation of Haitis constitutional system for nineteen years. Haiti
has had seven election cycles since 1987, electing five Presidents
and several legislatures. ASECS have been on the ballot less than
half the time, and the system has not been fully implemented once.

ASEC candidates run as a slate (from a political party or group of
independents) and are chosen by voters in each communal section.
Haiti is divided into ten Departments, each Department is divided
into municipalities, or communes, and each municipality is split into
communal sections. A dense urban communal section could have more
than 100,000 voters, a remote rural section as few as a few hundred.
ASEC members wield little direct power themselves, but they are the
soul of the constitutional system because they oversee and advise
other government officials, from local administrators to the National
Palace, and play a key role in selecting judges and electoral council
members.

Within the communal section, the ASECs advise and supervise the local
Sectional Council, which administers the section. Each ASEC sends one
representative to the Municipal Assembly, which plays a similar
watchdog/advisor role at the municipal level. The mayor is supposed
to report to it on the use of municipal resources, and cannot sell
state lands without the Assemblys approval. The Municipal Assembly
also makes the initial list from which local justices of the peace
are chosen.

Each Municipal Assembly sends a representative to the Departmental
Assembly, where the power starts to accumulate. The Departmental
Assembly chooses the members of the Departmental Council, which
administers the Department. The Departmental Assembly plays a similar
watchdog/advisor role at the Departmental level, and the Departmental
Council reports to it. The Departmental Assembly also draws up a list
of nominees for trial and appellate judgeships in the Department.
Each Departmental Assembly nominates three people to serve on the
national Permanent Electoral Council (CEP), ceating a list of 30
nominees. The Supreme Court, the executive and the legislature each
pick three names from that list for the CEP.

Each Departmental Assembly sends a representative to the
Interdepartmental Assembly. The Interdepartmental Assembly helps the
executive branch, and is involved in policy planning. The
Interdepartmental Assembly is entitled to attend and vote at
Ministerial Council meetings that deal with issues within its domain.
This system ensures that non-professional politicians, elected by
their neighbors, have a say at every level of Haitian government. The
system is insulated from centralized money and other forces because
it is impossible to predict which ASEC candidates are likely to make
it to the Departmental Assemblies, where power starts to accumulate.
For example, in the 3rd Section of Croix-des-Bouquets, outside
Haitis capitol, there are seven ASEC slates of six candidates each.
If a candidates slate prevails, he has a one-in-six chance of being
chosen for the Croix-des-Bouquets Municipal Assembly. That Assembly
has ten members, one of which is chosen for the Departmental Assembly
for the West Department. So any one ASEC candidate has a 1-in-420
chance of reaching the Departmental Assembly, and a 1-in-4,200 chance
of reaching the Interdepartmental Assembly.

Implementing the ASEC system will bring some much-needed stability to
future elections, by establishing a Permanent Electoral Council. The
1987 Constitution created a formula for choosing a Provisional
Council that would run a single election that would set the ASEC
system in motion to choose a Permanent Council. Because the ASEC
system was never implemented, every one of Haitis elections over the
last nineteen years has been run by a Provisional Council. All but
the first of those Councils was chosen through a formula not
recognized by the Constitution. And all but the first of the
elections they ran was contested by the losing parties, who
challenged (with good reason) the Provisional Councils legitimacy.

Nineteen years is a long time to lay the Constitutions foundation
stone, but it is better late than never. Sundays voting is a strong
first step, but it must be followed up with diligent implementation
of the entire ASEC system. By doing so, President Prival could help
end the incessant series of electoral crises in Haiti, which keep
spiraling into political instability and twice have led to the
overthrow of the Constitutional government. In the long run, Sundays
ignored elections could be the most important accomplishment of
President Privals administration. (Brian Concannon, ijdh.org, 12/2)

The Economist: Haiti on the mend?
The country is hardly stable, but the president is popular. Despite
an overall improvement in security, violent incidents in Haitis
capital, Port-au-Prince, continue to highlight the still-fragile
nature of the stability that has largely prevailed since the February
2006 elections. However, the new president, Reni Prival, who won 51%%
of the vote in the elections, and his Lespwa (Hope) party enjoy
strong support from the foreign governments and multilateral agencies
engaged in the country. They also benefit from the goodwill, at least
for the time being, of the majority of Haitians. The small but
powerful and wealthy elite remains suspicious of the threat that it
believes Mr Privals government poses to its interests, but the
desire for progress on reconciliation and national dialogue, which
was one of the most conspicuous failures of the March 2004-May 2006
interim government, is likely to see the majority of the political
players willing to co-operate to some degree. Perhaps the greatest
threat to Mr Privals presidency will present itself not in the form
of opposition from the countrys elite or the risk of political
deadlock, but from the risk that slow movement on improving the
living conditions of ordinary Haitians might translate into a sense
of disillusionment and a sharp drop in public support for his
administration. Efforts would be complicated if this led to
increasing demands by supporters of the Fanmi Lavalas (FL, the party
of the former president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, ousted in early
2004), many of whom voted for Mr Prival, for the return of the former
president from exile. Steps that Mr Prival has already taken to
foster support and promote a sense of inclusive government are
positive signs.

Given Lespwas lack of a majority in the legislature (it has one-
fifth of the seats in the House of Deputies and one-third in the
Senate), the government will have to forge parliamentary alliances to
advance its policy agenda and avoid the political stalemate that
beset Mr Prival during much of his previous term as prime minister in
1996-2001. Mr Privals consciousness of the need to foster a sense of
co-operation among other parties is illustrated by the inclusion in
his cabinet of representatives of six different parties. The passage,
on time, of the budget for fiscal year 2006/07 (October-September),
and the governments willingness to incorporate amendments to it by
both the House of Assembly and the Senate provide further positive
signs of the willingness of the parliament and the executive to work
together. To consolidate improvements in the security situation made
since the since the start of 2006, rapid movement will also be needed
in increasing economic opportunity for marginalised groups,
disarmament, and the reform and strengthening of the Police Nationale
dHaoti (PNH, the national police force). Strengthening the rule of
law will also be a prerequisite for the governments strategy of
attracting private investment to foster economic growth, as will
reform of the judicial and penal systems to combat corruption and
public mistrust of these institutions.

Mr Prival has used the period since his election to bolster
international support through a series of official foreign visits. He
will need to call on the goodwill of the international community to
provide backing for the implementation of rapid impact projects that
will improve social infrastructure, as well as providing employment.
The support of the governments of the US, France and Canada, Haitis
main trade partners and aid donors, as well as that of multilateral
agencies such as the IMF, the UN and the World Bank, will be needed
to ensure the continuation of both multilateral and bilateral aid
flows in 2007-08. Both Mr Prival and the international players most
engaged in Haiti, especially the US, will be keen to avoid the
destabilising effect that the possible return of Mr Aristide from
exile in South Africa would pose, at least in the short term. The
mandate of the Mission des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation en
Haoti (Minustah, the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti)
will face little opposition within the UN Security Council to the
extension of its mandate for a further six months before it expires
on February 15th 2007. Assuming the improvements made since the start
of 2006 in stabilising the security situation can be consolidated,
Minustahs role is likely to be broadened from one principally of
peacekeeping to one of offering developmental assistance and
training, as well as giving advice and help on reforming the police
and the judicial and penal systems. However, the extent to which
Minustah is able to change its role will depend on the level of
financing made available to enable the mission to implement
infrastructure projects in Haiti. A UN presence in the country to
help provide security is likely to be necessary for several years.
(11/20)

Worlds AIDS Day Commentary:
On this World AIDS Day, my thoughts are with my friends and
colleagues in rural Haiti who I know are working tirelessly to treat
their AIDS patients. I was recently privileged to work there with the
destitute sick as part of my medical studies. During my six-week
stay, I saw the obstacles that the U.S. global AIDS program has
encountered -- and sometimes exacerbated -- as it seeks to
dramatically ramp up access to life-saving health services. In rural
parts of Haiti, the lack of healthcare workers leads to the inability
to test, diagnose and treat AIDS patients. There are only five
doctors for every 100,000 people in the country. In the hospitals
where I worked, I saw children dying of dehydration because there
were not enough nurses available to give them intravenous fluids.
There are almost no doctors living in the rural central plateau, and
the few that are there are commuting three hours from Port-au-Prince.
Physicians told me of their frustration at the lack of nurses and
community healthcare workers to help care for their patients on a
more consistent basis.

Dr. Renard Cruff, the director of HIV/AIDS for the government clinic
in the city of Thomonde told me, ''Because patients live so far from
a doctor, they either wait until they are very sick to come to the
clinic or go to see the traditional healers who are closer to them.''
Adding to the problem is that salaries are low. Several doctors spoke
to me about their intention to leave Haiti for the United States
where they could better provide for their families. In the United
States, modern treatment has transformed AIDS from a death sentence
into a chronic disease like diabetes. However, in places like Haiti,
people living with AIDS often suffer without treatment. While some
progress has been made in making treatment more accessible, only 12
percent of those Haitians who need it are receiving the drugs. So
far, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief is taking only
limited steps to address this problem. The United States just
increased its budget to hire local health workers to provide
treatment and care whenever possible.

However, the United States is actually weakening the primary-care
systems of recipient countries and draining professional staff from
the public sector by hiring from the same pool with no efforts to
increase the overall supply of doctors and nurses. Many more doctors
and nurses will need to be trained through the opening of new
professional schools in developing countries, coupled with
substantial new efforts to retain the struggling health workers who
are already in place.

Fortunately, there are steps the United States can take to address
the severe lack of healthcare workers:
The United States can provide its fair share to the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, whose grants can be used to
bolster retention of healthcare workers in Haiti. While support for
the Global Fund in the U.S. Congress has been strong, each year
President Bush has proposed a large cut in the U.S. contribution. For
the United States to meet its goals in Haiti, Bush should begin
backing the fund wholeheartedly, and the full Congress should pass
what the Senate has already approved: $866 million for fiscal year 2007.
Congress should pass and fully fund the New Partnership for Haiti
Act of 2005, which would help Haiti improve basic healthcare
infrastructure and sanitation. This bill has lacked the support of
such key Republicans as Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, who sits
on the Foreign Relations Committee, but it is not too late for her to
fight AIDS and other diseases by co-sponsoring this bill. Florida's
senators, too, should take the lead in making sure that companion
legislation gets through the Senate.
Congress must look broadly at the problem, since Haiti is only one
of 57 countries that the World Health Organization has identified as
facing a severe healthcare worker shortage. A bill sponsored by Sen.
Richard Durbin, D-Ill., would support training and retention of a
capable, indigenous healthcare workforce in Africa, and Congress
should pass and fund this critical legislation.

To fully fund a healthcare workforce to treat AIDS and other diseases
in developing countries, $8 billion over five years is needed from
the United States alone. To some, this may sound like a lot. But
unless we fully fund the workers that are on the frontlines of the
battle against disease, our efforts for stability and prosperity in
countries like Haiti could be as much a hindrance as a help. (Vincent
DeGennaro is a University of Miami medical student and an advocacy
fellow at the Global AIDS Alliance, 12/1)

*
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