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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti has made little
progress in rebuilding in the five months since
its earthquake, because of an absence of
leadership, disagreements among donors and general
disorganization, a U.S. Senate report says.
Obtained Monday by The Associated Press, the
eight-page report is meant to give Congress a
picture of Haiti today as U.S. legislators
consider authorizing $2 billion to support the
country's reconstruction.
That picture is grim: Millions displaced from
their homes, rubble and collapsed buildings still
dominating the landscape. Three weeks into
hurricane season, with tropical rains lashing the
capital daily, construction is being held up by
land disputes and customs delays while plans for
moving people out of tent-and-tarp settlements
remain in "early draft form," it says.
The report was written by staff of Sen. John
Kerry, the Massachuetts Democrat who is chairman
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and
other Democrats who interviewed U.S., Haitian,
United Nations and other officials and visited
resettlement camps, hospitals and schools
throughout the quake zone.
"While many immediate humanitarian relief
priorities appear to have been met, there are
troubling signs that the recovery and longer term
rebuilding activities are flagging," said the
report, which is scheduled to be released Tuesday.
Three times it says the rebuilding process has
"stalled" since the Jan. 12 disaster.
The report also criticizes the government of
Haitian President Rene Preval and Prime Minister
Jean-Max Bellerive, saying it has "not done
an effective job of communicating to Haitians that
it is in charge and ready to lead the rebuilding
effort." The report calls on Preval to take a
"more visible and active role, despite the
difficulties."
Bellerive responded to the criticism in a
Monday interview with the AP. He said officials
are working hard behind the scenes to ensure
reconstruction does not simply mean the rebuilding
of barely livable slums.
"We understand the impatience and we are
the ones more frustrated than anybody," the
prime minister said. "It took some time. I
believe four months (since a U.N. donors'
conference in March) to plan the refoundation from
such a disaster is pretty acceptable."
With a chuckle, he also said it is unfair for
U.S. officials to take him to task when the Senate
still has not approved aid money that Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton promised at the
donors' conference.
"They ask me to move more projects when
the money is still on hold," Bellerive said.
In all, just 2 percent of the $5.3 billion in
near-term aid pledges have actually been
delivered, up from 1 percent last week.
The report expresses concerns that even once
the money is in hand, it will not move quickly
enough to help. The funds are managed by a
26-member reconstruction commission led by
Bellerive and former U.S. President Bill Clinton
that started its operations last week.
While the report calls the commission the
"best near-term prospect for driving
rebuilding," it also says the panel "has
the potential to dramatically slow things down
through cumbersome bureaucratic obstacles at a
time when Haiti cannot afford to delay."
The report notes disagreements among donors
over strategy, approach and priorities, saying the
disputes "are undercutting recovery and
rebuilding."
The reconstruction panel includes
representatives of donors who pledged at least
$100 million in cash or $200 million of debt
relief, including the United States, Venezuela,
Brazil, Canada, the European Union, the
Inter-American Development Bank and the World
Bank.
Bellerive said the report's criticism that the
panel has been too slow in organizing is already
moot. "We had a meeting, we have an office,
we have administrative support," he said.
One thing on which all parties agree is the
importance of November elections. The legislature
has almost entirely dissolved after members' terms
expired because the quake forced the cancellation
of February legislative elections. Preval's
five-year term ends next February; an attempt to
prolong his term by several months if elections
are not held resulted in protesters clashing with
police in front of the ruins of the presidential
palace.
Failing to hold the November elections on time,
even despite the losses of the electoral
commission's headquarters and records, could
imperil "Haiti's fragile democracy," the
report says. But it expresses limited optimism
that a plan for holding the vote is
"apparently imminent."
Copyright
© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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