Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

UN seeks $98m to help Haiti stabilisation efforts
12-19-2006

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP): The United Nations announced Monday a 98-million-dollar appeal to help Haiti in its transition to stability after years of political violence.

The appeal, for 2006-2007, aims to strengthen Haiti's government in the post-electoral transition period and to help it meet humanitarian and development needs.

It also seeks to reduce the potential impact of natural disasters, said Joel Boutroue, deputy special representative of the Secretary General for the UN's Haiti Stabilisation Mission.

Boutroue warned that the situation in Haiti remained "extremely dire," despite a recently completed round of presidential, parliamentary and local elections.

"All indicators show that Haiti continues to be the poorest country in the northern hemisphere," Boutroue told journalists.

He added that the appeal would take a three-pronged approach: to address insecurity in Haiti's teeming shanty towns and deliver a 'peace dividend' to the population; to improve the situation in rural areas and thus stem the exodus to the cities; and to strengthen the capacity of the government.

Haiti has suffered from political violence and instability in recent years, notably the resignation of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004 after a popular uprising.

After Aristide's departure to exile, a force of over 8,000 UN soldiers and police went to Haiti to maintain order while an interim regime sought to re-establish stability.

More than half of the Caribbean island's 8.4 million population lives below the extreme poverty line of one dollar a day, the UN said in a statement.

Last week, government creditors in the Paris Club agreed with Haitian officials to restructure the country's external public debt within the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.

The agreement consolidated around 69 million dollars of the country's debt, and would lead to the immediate cancellation of 7.2 million dollars.