Caribbean Net News: EU unblocks aid to Haiti for general election, disarmament

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP): The European Union on Thursday unblocked 12.3 million dollars in aid for Haiti's general election, as well as three million dollars aimed at disarming decommissioned troops and helping them re-establish themselves in society.

Haiti's interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and European Union representative, Dutch ambassador Marcel Van Opstal, attended the ceremony to sign over the first installment of a total 22 million dollars in election aid.

"We are five months away from the first elections and we don't have a moment to waste," said Latortue, adding his hopes for the international community to "accelerate" disbursements to the impoverished nation where aid was suspended from the early 1990s over elections concerns when ousted president Jean Bertrand Aristide took power.

The United Nations Development Programme will be in charge of disbursing the aid.

Electoral council spokesman Rosemond Pradel earlier this week announced an increase in expected election costs, from 45 million dollars to 60 million, and called on donors to speed up disbursements.

Voter registration began a week ago in Haiti ahead of the two-round elections scheduled first for October 9, but voters in the capital Port-au-Prince have not yet taken part due to security concerns amid heightened violence here.

Latortue also thanked the European Union for its contribution to Haiti's disarmament.

"Disarmament is a long, complex process in a country where arms are found in the hands of a wide range of groups," he said.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's representative in Haiti, Juan Gabriel Valdes, called on Haitians to "build a society of peace through dialogue, electoral competition and the organization of institutions."

According to human rights organizations, more than 300,000 firearms are still circulating in Haiti, in the hands of armed gangs, ex-military personnel, and paramilitaries, more than a year since Aristide was ousted in February 2004.

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