Clinton signals commitment to Haiti

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton highlighted US efforts to steady Haiti's tenuous path to stability with a quick visit to a former armed gang haven in the capital Port-au-Prince.

In an armored motorcade, she entered Cite Soleil (Sun City), a symbol of President Rene Preval's bid to lift Haiti from its status as the poorest country in the Americas, with the help of the United States and other nations.

"They've been through a hard time. Part of what we're trying to do is help Haiti reconstruct its services," Clinton said as she toured a temporary health clinic set up by a visiting hospital ship, the USS Comfort.

Patients, seeking care for ailments ranging from eye diseases to cleft palate, found shade from the tropical heat under tents erected in a compound guarded by armed men and surrounded by high walls and iron doors.

Clinton also met with officers of the Brazil-led MINUSTAH, UN troops who are trying to restore stability with Preval's new Haitian National Police force, which US officials say replaces its corrupt predecessor.

The tight security in Cite Soleil pointed to improvements but also to how far Haiti still has to go. Preval said as much at a press conference with Clinton at his sprawling, ornate white palace.

"I'm confident to say that this country can move forward without this threat of armed gangs," Preval told reporters in a large open room with marble floors and chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings.

"The security having been assured, we can have the stability that is necessary to now move forward with our senatorial elections which will further ensure the security that we seek," he said, referring to elections on Sunday.

But "despite these advances we have made, the stability is still fragile and needs reinforcement," Preval said.

"One of these threats to this stability is drug trafficking, which is an enemy of the rule of law, an enemy against the functioning of democratic institutions."

At an international donors conference in Washington on Tuesday, Clinton announced that the United States would give Haiti not only two million dollars to fight drugs but also 55 million dollars to boost the economy and ease its debt load.

The new funds were part of a larger US package this year of 287 million dollars.

The total raised at the conference organized by the Haitian government and the Inter-American Development Bank amounted to 324 million dollars, but US officials here acknowledged it was far from the one billion dollars the Haitians needed to rebuild.

Haiti especially needed 125 million dollars to fill a budget gap for 2009, according to officials, but the IDB said the donors committed only 41 million dollars for budget support.

Haitian Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis said in Washington that Haiti would spend the money wisely and it was still more than expected given the world financial crisis.

During the press conference, Clinton paid tribute to the steps Haiti has taken toward democracy, comparing it with the dictatorship in nearby Cuba, and noted the election posters she saw entering the capital from the airport.