What a class act!

Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton shake hands with earthquake survivors during a visit to Champ de Mars near the national palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on March 22, 2010

In high school French, classes resumed

On the hills, the town hall, which bears on its front the motto of the Republic of Haiti, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”, was abandoned because of precarious balance. Its services are transferred across in the local library. Responsible for strengthening the municipal team, one French, Richard Landry, plays a role of superintendent. His mission began well before the earthquake, in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD) and the City of Strasbourg. “It manages the emergency while reorganizing with the desire not to mortgage the future. It is not to rebuild in flood during hurricane, building with seismic standards while many residents want to relocate in a hurry, “said Richard Landry.

A jewel of private secular education in Haiti, the French school-Pommayrac Alcibiades, too, suffered. The primary school collapsed causing no casualties and the school requires the work of rehabilitation. He welcomes Creole and French soon began in kindergarten. The 750 students who pass the end of the tray Haitian Studies and French are selected on merit. Young people from disadvantaged families are privileged to the same level competitions, thanks to a grant system. “We have taken courses outside without waiting for students to pass exams at year end. We welcome others with their rotation to restore faith in the aftermath. We will rehabilitate and rebuild, “says Gerard Borne, facility director and consul of France. Carefully maintained, the gardens are planted with bougainvillea. “Our role is to give these children an education and a framework. Our park is there to show what he can do with the environment, “he said.

But, by the sea, in artists’ quarter, the mood is sullen. The workshops of painters and craftsmen are closed. There will be no carnival in Jacmel this year. The designers still continue to make street costumes and papier-mache masks. One complete uniform of a Devil and winged boots. It will not scroll band this year.

“Sorry that it took so long,” said former U.S. President Bill Clinton’s envoy from the UN in Haiti including the capital Port-au-Prince and its region were devastated by an earthquake, January 12 .

“I try to solve the congestion for the shipment of food is carried in sufficient quantity,” he said, promising that he does not want to pose as “governor” of the stricken country.

Saturday, Colonel Gregory Kane, director of command operations in Haiti, confirmed the continued commitment of U.S. forces on the ground. “We will be in Haiti as it will be useful, the military aspect of the operation, under the experience will probably be 45 to 50 days” in everything he said to the press.

“It is a political decision to be taken by the U.S. government,” he qualified, however. The Pentagon has so far released over 200 million dollars in disaster assistance, according to USAID, the U.S. government agency responsible for development aid. He helped transport assistance, both in men and medical equipment, food and drinking water.

U.S. troops have been deployed up to 22,000 in Haiti or in wide, said Colonel Kane, ensuring that it remained current 17,000 including 7,000 on the ground, providing equipment and distribution of food in 16 different sites.
Meanwhile, the 10 American Baptist arrested January 30 at the Dominican border with 33 children described as orphans but undocumented, should be transferred to the men at the national penitentiary for women in prison in Petion-ville on Heights of Port-au-Prince.

Former U.S. President will also coordinate the activities of UN agencies, NGOs, donor countries and private donors.

Mr. Ban told Mr. Clinton that those functions required “extraordinary qualities of leadership.

The incident occurred yesterday in a suburb of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti devastated by the earthquake of January 12.

Six marine approached me, surrounded me before taking my camera in my open work bag. They then left with it, “he told the photographer Homer Cardichon, cited by the defense organization of journalists based in Paris.
“An hour later, one of them returned to photograph me and returned my camera. I found later  that soldiers had destroyed some of the photos I took,” said the photographer.

Denouncing “an act of blatant censorship,” The organization of Reporters Without Borders said that “information is essential to the reconstruction of Haiti and to the mobilization of citizens for their own future.”

More than 10,000 U.S. troops have been deployed to help Haiti after the earthquake that claimed over 200,000 lives by government.

“I made the preliminary information and have referred the case to the prosecution,” said Justice of Peace in Delmas (central district of Port-au-Prince). “What the prosecution will now decide on further action in this matter”, that is to say or not to prosecute the suspects, he said adding that this procedure would take place today.

The hearings are to start around 10:00 local and open to the public, said the prosecutor of Port-au-Prince Mazar fortifications, told reporters in the Directorate of Judicial Police (DCPJ), where suspects are held.

The ten U.S. citizens, Baptists members of a charity called “The Sanctuary for a new life for children, based in Idaho (north-western United States), were arrested Friday near the Dominican border, along with 33 children from 2 months to 14 years.

The judge “has finished drafting the minutes of the preliminary information and the file will now be forwarded to the prosecution, on Wednesday confirmed Edwin Cock, Haitian lawyer, suspects.

“It is the Government Commissioner (attorney, editor’s note) who will decide whether the case will be sent before a judge or whether they will close the case,” he added, the DCPJ.

The prosecutor of Port-au-Prince fortifications Mazar said Monday that a prosecution for “child trafficking, kidnapping and conspiracy” were considered, confirmed Wednesday what Mr. Pierre-Louis.

For that aid is effective, it must “converge on the international level” and “internal coordination” to ensure the control, which requires the strengthening of central authority in Haiti, said Dominican President Leonel Fernandez. “First, the emergency humanitarian aid must continue, but there are logistical problems to solve. (…) We need a central authority in Haiti, which oversees the support that is happening for the ‘Humanitarian aid the desired effect, “he said.

Participants at the meeting also proposed to assess the economic impact of the earthquake and to establish a priority list in the island. Mr. Fernandez suggested that the amount of the debts of his country to be assigned to a fund for Haiti, once paid. “The Dominican Republic has a debt with the Paris Club [an informal group of official creditors that meet regularly in Paris, and whose role is to find coordinated and sustainable solutions to payment difficulties experienced by debtor nations, Editor's note ]. We will honor this debt, but we hope that this payment can be channeled towards the creation of a special fund for Haiti, “he said.

According to the Vice-President of the Spanish Government, Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, presented at the meeting, “the government and people of Haiti must be major players in the reconstruction process,” but “the involvement of the whole community International “is” necessary “.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) plans to give Haiti’s debt, about $ 480 million, said in Santo Domingo Manuel Labrador, spokesman for the institution in the Caribbean country, which also announced the provision of 364 million dollars. France also calls the cancellation of the remainder of Haiti’s debt to Paris Club creditors of key public, announced Friday the Minister of Economy Christine Lagarde. Haiti has accumulated in 2009 a debt of over $ 1 billion, mainly vis-à-vis the World Bank and IDB, but also towards the countries of the Paris Club, according to the Department of Economics Paris.

The Haitian president, René Préval, was held at the beginning of the meeting that his country’s reconstruction could be done only from the outside and passed by the “political and economic stability.” “We must strengthen democratic institutions,” he had launched. A meeting of contributors to help with Haiti will be held in Montreal January 25.

“Doing Business”? Not so simple if we are to believe a report from the World Bank is studying the regulation of business in 183 countries worldwide. Haiti therein to 151st rank. “It is very difficult to transact in Haiti and property rights are poorly protected, described Sylvia Solf, one of his editors. We must get the approval from many agencies and the highest authorities of the State to start a business: it takes 195 days on average! ”

Delays are also among the highest in the world to obtain a building permit, connection to electricity and telephone. The World Bank, “we will have rapidly simplify all the basic procedures and secure the title if it wants to attract investors.

And even more so, says Ms. Solf, that “there is a correlation between the complexity of procedures and recourse to corruption.” That is one major concern of donors, while international organizations and “friendly countries” in Haiti were recognized at the Montreal meeting, January 25, the Haitian state, despite governance weaknesses exacerbated by the earthquake was only legitimate to manage and coordinate reconstruction aid for which the total could approach $ 20 billion (14 billion euros).

“The management of this money worries us: we fear that some of the aid is diverted and does not benefit Haitians in need,” warns Marilyn Allien, president of the Heritage Foundation in Haiti, the local branch of Transparency International. This nongovernmental organization has assigned to Haiti note of 1.8 out of 10 in its index of corruption perception in 2009. Only seven countries are rated worse.

“Corruption is endemic in public institutions in Haiti, describes Mrs. Allien. The practice has become routine. The perpetrators enjoy total impunity. It is a practical high performance and low risk for the whole world: officials and elected parliament, the executive, the judiciary, the private sector … ”

The creation between 2004 and 2006, a unit of the fight against corruption, a National Commission on public procurement and a unit of financial information was not enough to clean up the economy. “The head of the National Procurement was kidnapped in February 2006, was never found his body,” sighed Mrs. Allien.

A previous concern especially Transparency International organization denounces the opacity which it claims surrounding the use of program funds to support after the hurricanes of 2008. Including 197 million dollars (141 million) loan from Venezuela under the PetroCaribe funds. “41% of this amount has been allocated to the National Equipment Company, managed by a close associate of President René Préval, said Mrs. Allien. Impossible to know what exactly has been done with this money. According to some allegations, some have served to finance the election platform unit set up by President Préval. ”

The former Prime Minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis, who had requested the audits on the use of these funds has been sacked. It now proposes that the reconstruction is copilotée by Haitian authorities and the international community. It will likely be heard.

“Given the state of the Haitian public, we will develop tools for monitoring and management strengthened, said Bruno Lemarquis, an expert in the office of the crisis the United Nations Program for Development. It is possible that international agencies install their own services on site to implement the programs. ”

Control all the more necessary as the World Bank has proposed to create a single fund bringing together all funding for reconstruction. “However, such a trust fund requires the country to distribute general budget support and not grants arrow on specific projects, observes a French diplomat. This involves a lot of confidence in the ability of countries to manage its budget in a transparent manner. ” Trust: a further element in rebuilding Haiti.