-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Haiti Report for September 28, 2006

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

Haitireport mailing list
http://haitikonpay.org/mailman/listinfo/haitireport

Haiti Report for September 28, 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.

IN THIS REPORT:
- - World Bank Official States a Larger UN Mission Would Encourage Donors
- - One Cooperative Begins Reimbursement, Women Victims of Cooperatives
Hold Sit-In
- - Former Army Commander Shot Dead in Petionville
- - Haiti Asks US to Life Arms Embargo
- - Temporary Agreement Reached for Malpasse Border Strike
- - New Disarmament Commission Meets
- - Environment Minister Talks About Protection of Ozone Layer,
Reforestation
- - Representative Lee Promotes Aid Legislation
- - US Announces $492 Million Aid Package
- - Government's Head Prosecutor Talks About Kidnapping Related Summons
for Judicial Police Director
- - Haiti Qualifies for HIPC, Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative
- - US Based Organizations Call for Haiti Debt Cancellation
- - No Vote for HOPE Act
- - Canada and France Sign Deal to Help Rebuild Haiti
- - Legislators Propose New Security Force
- - UNICEF Improving Schools in Cite Soleil
- - US Radio Ad Requesting Tips on Weapons Caches Seen as Encroaching
on Sovereignty by Haitian Politicians
- - 30 of September Foundation Announces Planned Commemorative Events
for Sept 30

World Bank Official States a Larger UN Mission Would Encourage Donors:
Haiti would benefit from faster implementation of its aid programmes
if it were assigned a larger U.N. peacekeeping force to ensure the
safety of development workers, a top World Bank official said on
Thursday. In August the United Nations renewed the mandate of its
peacekeeping force for six months at its current size of about 9,000
soldiers and police despite U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's call
for a 12-month extension. "That is very much on the low side for
U.N. peacekeeping forces when you look across the spectrum of the
world and I think donors have recognised that, without that security-
development nexus, you're not going to get progress," said the World
Bank's Latin America and Caribbean director, Caroline Anstey. Troop
and police contributions are typically determined by donor countries'
foreign and defence ministries while aid funding is approved by
finance and development officials, and coordination is sometimes
lacking, she said.

"We need to bring those together so security and development can go
hand in hand so, for example, we can go into Cite Soleil and do
development projects," Anstey said in reference to the most dangerous
shanty town in the Caribbean country of 8.6 million people. "It's
very hard for development institutions and NGOs to deliver cleaner
water, clean streets, sanitation in areas that are insecure," she
added. "If you look back five years, 10 years, 15 years, there was a
tendency for donors to come in with competing programmes draped in
national flags, a lot of overlap, a lot of lack of coordination,"
Anstey said. "Three years ago Haiti barely had a budget. Now it has a
budget, it's on time, it's transparent. We, the World Bank, helped
set up a civil society monitoring mechanism to make sure that
transparency exists and I think the government has done a lot to put
together an economic governance reform agenda," she added. (Reuters,
9/14)

One Cooperative Begins Reimbursement, Women Victims of Cooperatives
Hold Sit-In:
The directors of the " Coeurs-Unis " (United Hearts) Cooperative
launched a program of reimbursements Monday aimed at compensating
thousands of shareholders who lost hundreds of millions of their
deposits in gourdes at the cooperative under confused circumstances.
The Coeurs-Unis Cooperative is one of dozens that closed their doors
in 2001 on the pretext that they were bankrupt. Only 27 of the
23,000 members of the Coeurs Unis Cooperative received compensation
Monday. The coordinator of the Reimbursement Committee, Jean Gilles
Eldruche, explained that Coeurs-Unis started with these 27
shareholders just to try to give confidence to the others. The
numbers will go up until every member has been compensated, said Jean
Gilles. Some shareholders said they were pleased with the
development, welcoming what they termed the good faith of the
president and general manager of the cooperative, David Chiry. They
urged the directors of other cooperatives to follow his example.
Some of the other supposedly bankrupt cooperatives were CEI, CADEC,
Le Compagnon, COFCA, and Titi Coopirative, which were paying interest
as high as 12%%. It has been reported that even at the time of the
problems, some bank cadres were lending money for the purpose of
investment in the cooperatives.

At the same time, the National Association of Women Victims of the
Cooperatives (ANFVC), organized a sit-in Monday outside the office of
the prosecutor of the civil court of Port-au-Prince to continue to
demand that the Haitian State pay reparations and compensation to all
shareholders who were swindled and fooled. ANFVC President
Margareth Fortuni appealed to the government to arrest all directors
of the so-called bankrupt cooperatives to enable the swindled
shareholders to recover their savings. Mme. Fortuni also denounced
the reimbursement program initiated by directors of Coeurs-Unis.In
her view, the program is rigged. Some names appear on the list
several times, she asserted. Despite promises made in March 2004 by
interim Prime Minister Girard Latortue, he allocated only 45 million
gourdes as reimbursement to the shareholders, as opposed to 56
million paid out by the Aristide government. (AHP, 9/12)

Former Army Commander Shot Dead in Petionville:
Guy Frangois, once a Colonel of the disbanded Haitian army, was
killed Thursday night in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Pition-Ville.
The circumstances surrounding the death of Frangois, who served
formerly as head of the Casernes Dessalines and general director of
the Interior Ministry, remain unclear. Witnesses cited by radio
stations said they saw Mr. Frangois arguing for several minutes from
the driver's seat of his car with two men who subsequently shot at
him. Attacks previously confined to the popular neighborhoods (slums)
around the capital seem now to have begun affecting the more
prosperous residential areas. Two people were gunned down Saturday
night near the popular Pition-Ville restaurant Anba Tonel. (AHP, 9/14)

A former army commander twice accused of plotting to overthrow
Haiti's government was shot to death in an upscale suburb of the
capital, police said Friday. Ex-Col. Guy Francois was killed Thursday
night, said judiciary police chief Michael Lucius. Police have no
motive or suspects in the killing. Francois's body was found slumped
behind the wheel of his car in Petionville, a wealthy neighborhood in
the hills overlooking Port-au-Prince, radio Kiskeya reported.
Francois, who is the brother of Dr. M. Rony Francois, Florida's
health secretary, was accused of helping plot a December 2001 attack
that then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said was an attempted
coup. Francois spent two years in prison for his alleged role despite
maintaining his innocence. In 1989, Francois, then commander of the
feared Dessalines Battalion in Port-au-Prince, was accused of
conspiring with other officers in a failed attempt to topple dictator
Lt. Gen. Prosper Avril. After the plot was foiled, Francois fled to
Venezuela and returned to Haiti some time after. (AP, 9/15)

Haiti Asks US to Life Arms Embargo:
Haiti's prime minister on Friday asked Washington to lift the 15-year-
old arms embargo that bars the troubled Caribbean country from buying
U.S. weapons for its ill-equipped
police force. Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis said the ban was
hurting Haiti's ability to ensure the safety of its 8 million people.
"How can the police be effective if they cannot get the weapons and
armament they need to carry out their difficult mission?" Alexis told
Reuters. "That's why we have asked the U.S. to lift the embargo." The
embargo was imposed in 1991 after the Haitian military overthrew the
government of then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It was aimed at
preventing the Haitian army and thugs accused of gross human rights
abuses from obtaining weapons from the U.S. market. U.S. Ambassador
to Haiti Janet Sanderson said the embargo is still in place, although
in 2005 the United States authorized the Haitian government to
conditionally buy a limited quantity of weapons. But U.S. officials
in Haiti have prevented the Haitian government from
taking possession of those two shipments of weapons, which are piled
up in a warehouse at the police academy in the Petion-Ville suburb of
the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The U.S. government wants Haitian authorities to first comply with
conditions set by the U.S. Congress when the decision was made to
allow the shipments to the violence-torn and impoverished country.
The weapons were required to remain under the embassy's care,"
Sanderson told Reuters. "And those who would be allowed use those
weapons
should be vetted." Many members of the Haitian police force,
including some who served in the Haitian military, have been accused
of human rights violations. One warehoused shipment was donated by
the United States to the interim government that preceded the current
administration. The second was purchased by Aristide during his
second term as president, but shipping was delayed to 2005 because of
the unrest in 2004. Haitian and U.S. authorities also disagreed over
the U.S. policy of deporting Haitians who have served prison time in
the United States, which Haiti considers a threat to its national
security because it lacks the means to control them. (Reuters, 9/15)

Temporary Agreement Reached for Malpasse Border Strike:
The new director general of customs, Jean Jacques Valentin, announced
Wednesday that a temporary agreement has been reached with
representatives of the freight carriers on strike for the past two
months on the Haitiain/Dominican border at Malpasse. The freight
carriers agreed to an eight day truce in expectation of the setting
up of a commission whose purpose is to find a permanent solution to
the crisis which has paralyzed commerce in the area. The carriers'
union demanded the departure of the director of customs at Malpasse,
Jeantal Clervil, whom they accuse of being an instrument of powerful
commercial interests. According to M. Valentin, the compromise was
reached after several meetings with the representatives of the
strikers. He reaffirmed the commitment of the customs agency under
his direction to collect as much money in duties as possible for the
State and take responsibility for oversight of the quality of
imports. Representatives of the strikers announced that they had
decided to sign the truce to facilitate an end to the crisis and to
show that there is no political agenda behind their movement. The
spokesman for the strikers, Elysie John Glinford, expressed the hope
that a serious inquiry will be undertaken during these eight days
with a view to bringing to light the justice of the claims and
demands of the strikers. He took the opportunity to downplay reports
according to which the management of Jeantal Clervil should have
allowed for greater receipts at the Malpasse border crossing. M.
Glinford recalled that the reality is that in the climate of
insecurity, heavy vessels have preferred to dock in the Dominican
Republic. Trailers are used for passing through customs at Malpasse
where there is no adequate structure to deal with this kind of
traffic. (AHP, 9/13)

New Disarmament Commission Meets:
Members of the National Commission for Disarmament, Dismantlement and
Reinsertion (CNDR) were officially invested in their function
Wednesday by Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis. The new
commission replaces one which had been formed by the transitional
regime: the commission of Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reinsertion
(DDR) According to M. Alexis, the name of the commission is not all
that has changed; it's mandate is also new. "The government has the
responsibility to instill a climate of peace in Haiti by combating
the gross violence with which the country is afflicted", Alexis
declared, reiterating that the law must be observed. The head of
Government has underscored that all the armed groups, from whatever
quarter and belonging to whatever sector, will be disarmed. He said
he is relying on the support of MINUSTAH to make the program a
complete success.

Those in possession of illegal arms are located in both the popular
neighborhoods and the residential suburbs. But it is the poor
neighborhoods which are more frequently targets. The president of the
CNDR, Alix Fils-Aimi, has for his part expressed his determination to
do everything in his power to achieve the commission's goals. He said
he depends on cooperation from all sectors of the country because as
he says, insecurity is a national problem. For his part, the
political activist Jean -Baptise Jean-Phillipe, known as Samba
Boukman, another member of the commission, believes that we must
begin by ending the exclusion at the heart of Haitian society if we
hope to find a solution to the problem of violence. He emphasized the
fact that the disarmament program must concern itself equally with
the popular neighborhoods and the residential districts. Because he
himself belongs to the milieu of the popular neighborhoods, those
associated with the former regime suggest he belongs to a movement
called "Operation Baghdad". A dozen citizens interrogated Wednesday
in the Bel-Air neighborhood have affirmed that they never heard
anything about this operation or that it ever existed. Several among
them gave it to be understood that the operation is less a discovery
than an invention of the former Prime Minister Girard Latortue and
his associates to justify massacres and other abuses that the police
and their associates have committed in the popular neighborhoods.
(AHP, 9/13)

Environment Minister Talks About Protection of Ozone Layer,
Reforestation:
Environment Minister Jean Marie Claude Germain advocated the adoption
of a series of measures Wednesday aimed at protecting the ozone
layer. Mr. Germain was speaking at a workshop held at the Hotel
Montana on the theme "Protecting the ozone layer above our
homeland". It is indispensable, he asserted, that we work seriously
on reforestation across the country because the forests have the
ability to capture carbon dioxide. We must do all we can to prevent
deterioration of the ozone layer, said Mr. Germain. The Minister
also announced the adoption of measures to improve solid waste
management in the Port-au-Prince region and several other parts of
the country. Trash containers will be placed in public areas to
encourage garbage collection, he added. Jean Marie Claude Germain
placed special emphasis on the idea of recycling plastic waste into
planks that can be used to manufacture objects such as benches for
schools and public squares. For his part, Fritz Nau, general
coordinator of the National Ozone Office (BNO), announced plans to
ban the import of some gases utilized in refrigeration starting in
the year 2010. Fritz Nau urged collaboration by all sectors,
especially importers of these products during the transition period
leading up to the January 1, 2010 ban on certain refrigerants. (AHP,
9/13)

Representative Lee Promotes Aid Legislation:
After two years of negotiations, the House International Relations
Committee approved a sweeping bill to provide economic development,
infrastructure reconstruction, and education assistance for Haiti.
The bill was based in large part on legislation introduced by
Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), who led the effort to reach a
bipartisan accord on the measure. H.R. 611, the Haiti Economic and
Infrastructure Reconstruction Act, establishes an economic assistance
program for Haiti and recruits qualified Americans, particularly
Haitian-Americans for implementing the program. The economic
assistance program includes reconstruction aid for Haiti in the
private sector, judiciary, healthcare system, and basic
infrastructure. It also establishes a healthcare assistance program
for Haiti to promote the prevention of infectious diseases in Haiti
and recommends that $3 million per year should be made available for
each program. It also authorizes $5,500,000 for fiscal years 2007
through 2009 for the creation of scholarship and basic education and
university partnership programs in Haiti.

Lee is the Co-Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Haiti Task
Force. The following is her statement from the Committee markup of
the bill today:
"Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Lantos, thank you for convening this
important markup and listing H.R. 611, the Haiti Economic and
Infrastructure Reconstruction Act to the markup roster. The Haiti
Economic and Infrastructure Reconstruction Act is an important bill
that will bring not only hope to Haiti, but present long-overdue
humanitarian assistance and hands-on expertise through a professional
exchange program. The program will establish a professional exchange
program (similar to the Peace Corps.) for health, judiciary and
infrastructure (engineers) professionals to travel to Haiti and work
under the guise of USAID in partnership with civil society and
Haitian government ministries. Mr. Chairman, today in Haiti less than
45 percent of Haitians have access to safe water and access to
sanitation. Seventy-six percent of Haiti's children under the age of
five are underweight, or suffer from stunted growth and 63 percent of
Haitians are undernourished. Eighty percent of the population lives
in abject poverty and the unemployment rate is estimated to be nearly
90 percent. 90 percent of all HIV/AIDS cases in the Caribbean are in
Haiti. As we combat global HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis,
maternal and child mortality, and many other life threatening
diseases, we must address the long-term effect of dilapidated
physical and health infrastructure and abject poverty throughout the
world, including in Haiti.

"The Haiti Economic and Infrastructure Reconstruction Act partners
Haitians and Americans together to execute an environmentally sound
approach to rebuilding Haiti. Its major provisions are aimed at
developing the judicial system and basic sanitation, water, and other
health infrastructures in Haiti. The Haiti Economic and
Infrastructure Reconstruction Act would bring U.S. professionals,
preferably Haitian Americans down to Haiti in order to train and
educate Haitians on how to run a free and fair judiciary, how to
rebuild, pave, and maintain roads to provide access to rural and
urban areas to health clinics. It is my hope that a transfer of
knowledge from US professionals in the fields of the judicial system,
health, infrastructure and engineering to Haitians will ensure long
term development and guarantee the success of the programs similar to
the success of the Global Fund and other international initiatives.
By widening the knowledge base of non-governmental organizations and
professionals in Haiti, the US will take advantage of a unique
opportunity and obligation towards Haiti's future.

"Mr. Chairman, this bill has been a bipartisan effort and has been
endorsed by the Congressional Black Caucus' Haiti Task Force. "I
would like to thank Congressman Foley and his staffer Bradley
Schreiber; Congressman Hyde and his staffer Ted Brennan; and
Congressman Lantos and his staffer Paul Oostburg. I encourage all of
my colleagues to vote for this legislation and our efforts to bring
additional resources and support to Haiti." (Office of Rep. Barbara
Lee, 9/13)

US Announces $492 Million Aid Package:
The United States announced a $492 million aid package aimed at
putting Haiti on a path to stability and lifting its stagnant
economy. The funds, to be disbursed over three years, will address
the Caribbean nation's ''enormous economic challenges'' by creating
jobs, increasing access to healthcare and education and fighting HIV/
AIDS, said U.S. Ambassador Janet A. Sanderson. ''Haiti is special. It
is starting with a very high unemployment rate. It is starting with a
new democratic process that is extremely important and we are here to
support all of that,'' Sanderson said in a news conference with
Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis. Current President Reni
Prival took power in May and has pledged to restore order, but a
surge in kidnappings and other violence blamed on street gangs has
raised fears that the shaky stability could crumble again. In a
recent report, the World Bank included Haiti on a list of 26
''fragile states'' at risk of collapsing because of conflict, poverty
and bad governance. The report said international donors failed to
help provide basic security in Haiti and had poorly timed aid
disbursements. Alexis said the assistance from the United States,
Haiti's largest foreign donor, would help the government continue
"efforts to have a functioning [democratic] system and good
governance.'' The aid package also will pay for initiatives to reform
Haiti's justice system and boost agribusiness. It does not include
funds to buy weapons for ill-equipped police forces in Haiti, which
remains under a 15-year-old U.S. arms embargo. (Dominican Today, 9/19)

Government's Head Prosecutor Talks About Kidnapping Related Summons
for Judicial Police Director:
The government's head Prosecutor in Port-au-Prince, Claudy Gassant,
indicated Monday that the summons naming the director of the Central
Direction of the Judicial Police(DCPJ), Michakl Lysius, might be
executed at any moment. Claudy Gassant spoke over the private
station, Radio Solidariti, declaring that Mr. Lysius, like any other
citizen, is not above the law and that the prosecutor is waiting for
the decision of the Court of Cassation following the legal challenge
filed by the director of the DCPJ before it acts. Michakl Lysius was
interviewed last Thursday by Judge Claudy Gassant concerning shocking
statements he made about Judge Napla Saintil and other colleagues,
whom he called "hoodlums in suits and ties". Last week the
prosecutor also summoned the director general of the national police,
Mario Andrisol, ordering him to provide explanations about the
conduct of his subordinate, said the public prosecutor. The warrant
was issued by Judge Saintil, who also issued the warrant against the
DCPJ director following accusations that he was involved in
kidnappings. The hearing held by prosecutor Gassant was criticized
by several sectors who saw it as a diversionary maneuver aimed at
helping Lucius in his action in opposition to the warrant that he
brought before a high court that had lost its credibility. When asked
about the fact that he had ordered the arrest of several other
Haitians including political activist Reni Civil on the basis of
accusations that were far less serious than those against Mr. Lucius,
the government prosecutor said that the arrest of the leader of the
JPP (Popular Youth Power), Reni Civil, was not politically
motivated. (AHP, 9/18)

Haiti Qualifies for HIPC, Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative:
Haiti qualifies for a debt write-off under a major multilateral
relief effort, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday,
marking a new stage in donors' attempts to bolster the
poorest country in the Americas. The IMF said in July that relief
under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative could be worth
$14 million in the first year for the
impoverished, turbulent Caribbean country and could unlock potential
additional contributions worth $22 million. "We hope that the
discussion of decision point at both the IMF board and Bank board
takes place in early November. At that point they could become
eligible for interim debt relief," said World Bank Latin America and
Caribbean director Caroline Anstey. "They receive the bulk of the
debt relief at the completion point, which follows some two or two-
and-a-half years later," Anstey added. "We believe it is very
important that the savings from debt relief are spent on key social
areas: health, access to clean water, education."

A meeting of 26 donor countries and agencies in July topped up and
extended a two-year-old aid fund with $750 million for 13 more months
after the original $1.1 billion package expired. Donors meet again in
Spain in November to review Haiti's progress in implementing its
budget and social programmes. In a statement, IMF deputy managing
director Takatoshi Kato said Haiti had a satisfactory track record
but faces daunting challenges in security, social conditions and
income growth. As a result, the country would need "continued
financial support from and engagement with the international community".

The IMF's Kato said further macroeconomic, structural and social
reforms, as well as close attention to improving security, would be
essential in enabling Haiti to reach the point where creditors agree
to reduce its debt burden. Haiti's external debt is about $1.3
billion, of which about $550 million is owed to the Inter-American
Development Bank, which is also considering a debt write-off. IADB
President Luis Alberto Moreno, who is attending the Singapore
meetings, was not immediately available for comment. "Immediate
cancellation of Haiti's debt to the IMF, World Bank and IADB would
free much-needed resources needed to fight poverty," non-governmental
organisations Jubilee Network USA and Institute for Justice and
Democracy in Haiti said in July. (Reuters, 9/19)

US Based Organizations Call for Haiti Debt Cancellation:
Announced IMF/World Bank debt relief program will provide only
limited relief, with painful conditions. The International Monetary
Fund (IMF) gave much needed debt relief for Haiti a green light
yesterday, but the road ahead is still dangerous for Haitis poor.
The IMFs Executive Board announced that Haiti qualifies for its
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC) program that also
applies to World Bank debt. This is a step in the right direction,
but Haiti faces at least two more years of delay before it reaches
completion point and is eligible for 100%% cancellation. Several U.S.-
based organizations working on poverty and human rights in Haiti are
concerned that the IMF and World Bank debt relief program will
require painful economic measures that will make Haitians, the
poorest people in the Americas, even more vulnerable to death and
disease. In the meantime, the Haitian government will be forced to
make $60 million a year in debt payments, money that would be better
spent tackling Haitis dire health and education problems.

Haitis per capita gross domestic product (GDP) has shrunk 40%% since
1980. Most Haitians struggle to survive on less than $1 per day. Life
expectancy is only 53 years and nearly a quarter of children under 5
years old are chronically malnourished. Less than half of primary
school-aged children attend school. Most people do not have access to
clean water. Children will die of preventable water-borne diseases
today, tomorrow and every day for months and years to come because of
past restrictions imposed by the IMF and other lending institutions.
Children in desperate need cannot wait three years for the IMFs
process to be completed, said Nicole Lee, Operations Director of
TransAfrica Forum. Immediate debt relief would save lives
immediately. Before Haiti receives full debt cancellation under
HIPC, the IMF mandates that it undertake further macroeconomic,
structural and social reforms. Past IMF reforms imposed on Haiti
including curtailing support for agricultural production and cutting
social spending have worsened Haitis chronic poverty.

We are worried that the IMFs medicine may be worse than the
disease, said Neil Watkins, National Coordinator of the Jubilee USA
Network. The HIPC conditionalities will aggravate the very problems
that debt cancellation is supposed to tackle. Haiti needs immediate
debt cancellation now. Almost half of Haitis $1.3 billion external
debt is for loans made to the corrupt and brutal dictatorships of
Francois and Jean-Claude Duvalier. The banks let the Duvaliers use
loans for private armies and Manhattan shopping trips. Now Haitis
hungry poor must tighten their belts to pay the bill. said Brian
Concannon Jr. Director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in
Haiti. Haitis debt is onerous, but it is also odious. Over half
of Haitis public external debt is owed to the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB), which participates in HIPC but has not yet
followed the lead of the G-8, the IMF, and the World Bank to provide
100%% debt stock cancellation. Monika Kalra Varma, Acting Director of
the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, notes that
the IDB has been considering a program that would fully cancel
Haitis debt to it, but it needs to move from consideration into
action, now. HR 888, a resolution introduced in the U.S. House of
Representatives by Rep. Maxine Waters of California has 60 co-
sponsors and would commit the U.S. Government to immediate and
complete debt cancellation for Haiti. (Various Organizations Press
Release, 9/20)

No Vote for HOPE Act:
No vote is likely this week for the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity
through Partnership Encouragement bill, which would have expanded
trade preferences for Haiti and allowed for apparel assembled there
using third-country fabrics to obtain duty-free access to the U.S.
market. Thats the word from Florida U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek,
following a decision Monday night by House Republican leaders to
postpone consideration of H.R. 6142 or the HOPE Act. The bill is a
scaled down version of The Haiti Economy Recovery Opportunity (HERO)
bill, H.R. 4211, which Meek introduced in the House in this 109th
Congress. The House Ways and Means Committee was supposed to bring
the bill up for a vote on Tuesday, September 26, in the House of
Representatives. But House Republicans pulled the bill Monday night.
"If Haiti were important to them, they would have included Haiti in
the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Act, commented
Meek. The President and Congressional Republicans not only pushed
CAFTA-DR through Congress, but once it passed, the President held a
signing ceremony in the White House. Haiti requires such
attention. Industry leaders had claimed the bill, if passed, could
create as many as 20,000 jobs within four months. (Hardbeatnews.com,
9/28)

Canada and France Sign Deal to Help Rebuild Haiti:
Canada and France signed a deal Tuesday to help rebuild Haiti that
sets a framework for aid to other disadvantaged countries. "We will
work together for the development of this country," said Josee
Verner, the federal minister responsible for La Francophonie. "Haiti
is among our priorities." Her French counterpart, Brigitte Girardin,
echoed Verner's commitment during the signing ceremony held at the
summit of Francophone nations. "This country was destroyed and this
protocol which we signed today opens the door to a very close co-
operation," she said. "Taking into account our involvement, it is
necessary to provide mutual assistance and work together."

The text of the deal says Canada and France "will endeavour to
accompany the efforts by the Haitian authorities to create conditions
favourable with the rebuilding of a State in Haiti." Particular
support will be given to reforms in the areas of security and justice
as well as economic development, which will see assistance in the
form of co-financing of projects. Verner pointed out the Canadian
government had announced $520 million in aide for Haiti last July.
The amount will be spread over five years. (Canadian Press, 9/27)

Legislators Propose New Security Force:
Legislators have proposed creating a new security force to bolster
Haiti's outgunned police raising the possibility of reinstating the
Caribbean country's notorious and disbanded military, an official
said Tuesday. The force would be trained by Haitian and foreign
security experts, and could take control of guarding the country's
coasts and it's porous border with the Dominican Republic, said Sen.
Youri Latortue, president of the Senate commission on public safety.
"Haiti needs a force to be able to protect the country," Latortue
told The Associated Press in an interview. "We think that it's the
first step in (restoring) security because if our borders aren't
protected, anyone can come to Haiti and do what they want."

Funds to study the new force were included in a draft national budget
agreed upon by lawmakers this week, Latortue said. President Rene
Preval must approve the budget before sending it back to Parliament
for a final vote expected later this week. Daily kidnappings,
killings and other violence has fueled debate over the need for a
security force to support Haiti's ill-equipped police, which has
4,000 officers to serve a population of 8 million. An 8,800-strong
U.N. peacekeeping force currently provides the only real security in
the impoverished nation, which is still reeling from a violent
uprising that toppled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in
February 2004.

Latortue, the nephew and former security chief of ex-interim Prime
Minister Gerard Latortue, said he and other colleagues support a new
force to replace Haiti's demobilized military, although other
lawmakers have said they favor a national police force. Aristide
dismantled the military in 1995, after a U.S. military intervention
restored him to power following the 1991 coup that first ousted him.
The 1990-1994 military coup regime is blamed for the murders, rapes,
maimings and torture of thousands of Aristide supporters, and today's
former soldiers include convicted murderers. Latortue said anyone
convicted of human rights abuses should be barred from joining any
future security force. "We are not going to have people who violated
human rights in the past. We are going to have some new elements,"
said Latortue, who has denied alleged links to drug and arms
trafficking. The government offered no immediate reaction to the
proposed force. Before taking power in May, Preval expressed support
for creating a police force similar to that of France's national
force, but stopped short of saying he would favor reinstating the
armed forces. (AP, 9/26)

UNICEF Improving Schools in Cite Soleil:
Books are replacing bullets in some of Haitis worst slums where
gunmen once ruled the roost, as scores of thousands of youngsters
return to school thanks to a joint operation by the United Nations
Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and its partners. For years, powerful gangs
seized control of Citi Soleil, the seaside slum in the Haitian
capital of Port-au-Prince that has long been regarded as one of most
violent neighbourhoods in the whole Western Hemisphere. They forcibly
recruited children and kept away outsiders, including humanitarian
workers. Violence and increased poverty forced many schools to shut
down, leaving thousands of children without an education. But
following the election of Reni Prival as the new President in
February, a window of opportunity opened up when the gangs declared a
unilateral truce, and the area finally became accessible. UNICEF
immediately launched a massive vaccination campaign for all of the
slums children and women, immunizing 20,000 children and 30,000
women against common preventable diseases.

Together with the International Organization of Migration (IOM) and
local authorities, UNICEF identified requirements to bring every
child back to classrooms. Water and sanitation facilities are being
improved in 40 schools, while essential supplies are distributed to
all students and their teachers in all 201 schools. Now, 271 schools
and more than 68,000 children are being provided with basic learning
materials in Citi Soleil and other violence-affected neighbourhoods.
There are still a lot of children in Citi Soleil and in other parts
of Haiti who do not have access to school, UNICEF representative
Adriano Gonzalez-Regueral said. We need to join efforts and to
mobilize enough funds to reach those children in order to keep them
away from being given guns instead. Together with the World Bank,
UNICEF is also supporting the School-Fee Abolition Initiative, part
of the National Strategy for Education for All. The average Haitian
family spends a higher proportion of its income on education than any
other country in the world. Only 54 per cent of Haitian children
attend school. An additional $78 million will be required annually to
reach the 2015 Millennium Development Goal of having all children in
school, a small price to pay to set the country on a path to peace
and development, UNICEF says. (UN News Center, 9/22)

US Radio Ad Requesting Tips on Weapons Caches Seen as Encroaching on
Sovereignty by Haitian Politicians:
A radio ad urging Haitians to reveal illegal weapons caches to the
U.S. Embassy has angered politicians and fueled debate on whether the
troubled Caribbean nation has become a tacit U.S. protectorate. The
embassy denied any attempt on its part to undermine Haiti's
sovereignty but critics say U.S. authorities have appropriated the
proper role of the Haitian police. In a paid commercial broadcast in
Creole on Haitian radio, U.S. officials promise compensation to those
who provide information about people who have weapons or on the
location of those weapons. "You who are listening, if you have
information about people who would hide heavy weapons, please,
contact the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince," said the U.S. embassy
advertisement, which provides a telephone number to call. "The calls
will be treated confidentially and you will be amply rewarded," it said.

A U.S. embassy spokeswoman said the initiative was not meant to
threaten Haiti's sovereignty. "We work very closely with the Haitian
police and U.N. troops to improve the security climate in Haiti," she
said, declining to clarify whether the information collected by the
embassy would be given to Haitian police or U.N. troops. The
spokeswoman said among the tasks of the embassy was to counter
threats to the security of U.S. citizens, but the embassy was also
very concerned about improving the security of all Haitians. A
Haitian cabinet minister said he was offended. "I am not a spokesman
for the government, but as a cabinet member I feel offended that a
foreign embassy can be allowed to air such ads in my country," he
said. The minister asked not to be identified because he was not an
official spokesman. Several government officials and politicians
accused the United States and other foreign powers of turning Haiti,
the world's first independent black republic, into a protectorate. "I
think it's some sort of protectorate even though they did not
officially call it that name," said former Port-au-Prince Mayor Evans
Paul, who ran unsuccessfully for president this year. "I don't think
Preval can make any decision without taking into account the will of
those foreign powers and institutions. I don't think the Haitian
embassy in the United States could have released such a commercial,"
he said. (Reuters, 9/24)

30 of September Foundation Announces Planned Commemorative Events for
Sept 30:
The 30 September Foundation of Lavalas activist Lovinsky Pierre-
Antoine is getting ready to commemorate next Saturday [30 September]
the anniversary of the 30 September coup that overthrew Jean-Bertrand
Aristide in 1991. According to Pierre-Antoine, various activities
will be organized for the occasion. Lavalas activist Pierre-Antoine
speaks as follows: [Pierre-Antoine, in Creole] The activities that we
are going to carry out this week will also be held on the 25th World
Peace and Non-Violence Day at around 1000 hours on 26 September. The
Aba Satan [Down with the Devil] coalition and numerous other
organizations will hold a sit-in in front of the Palace of Justice to
demand the immediate release of [people's organization leader] Rene
Civil, former [Lavalas] Deputy Amanus Mayette, and all other
political prisoners in the country. At 1230 hours on 27 September, we
will hold another sit-in in front of the National Penitentiary
Administration [APENA]. Later that day, at 1700 hours, we will hold a
voodoo ceremony on the Champ de Mars to pay tribute to the victims of
the 30 September 1991 coup. At 1800 hours, we will hold a candlelight
march in which we will light 1,000 candles at Oxide Jeanty Square on
the Champ de Mars in memory of the victims. On 29 September, at
around 1100 hours, we will have a thanksgiving mass at the Aristide
Foundation for Democracy in Tabarre. On Saturday, 30 September,
people will take to the streets. The demonstration will begin at 0900
hours in front of Saint-Jean Bosco Church and will end at 1500 hours
in front of the US Consulate on Oswald Durand Street. (Radio
Metropole, 9/23)

*
================================================================
NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems
Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
Search Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/htdig/search.html
List Archives: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
Subscribe: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr
================================================================

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (FreeBSD)

iD8DBQFFHarWiz2i76ou9wQRAiZNAJ9MpFOCMk5i7g2e7jX9FnqS3qoxLACfTWOV
she5L1UTakWyOdgWqptI+Eg=
=oHBx
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----