02 February 2007
United States, Global Community Offer Further Support for Haiti
$20 million U.S. grant is aimed at backing Haitian youth jobs program
Washington -– In its continuing effort to strengthen stability in Haiti, the United States is providing a $20 million grant to the Haitian government for a youth employment program in the Caribbean country’s capital of Port-au-Prince.
The grant, announced February 1 by R. Nicholas Burns, U.S. under secretary of state for political affairs, will aid one of Port-au-Prince’s poorest sections, called Cité-Soleil, where gang-related violence runs rampant.
Speaking at a briefing at the State Department with Haitian Foreign Minister Jean Reynald Clerisme, Burns said the U.S. assistance will “provide the kind of encouragement through employment to help stabilize” Cité-Soleil.
Burns said help for Cité-Soleil is the “right thing to do to try to continue” international support for Haiti. The $20 million, said Burns, is part of more than $640 million in aid the United States has provided Haiti since 2004. The United States is the world's largest single country donor to Haiti and also the Caribbean nation's biggest trade partner.
Burns announced the aid following a meeting at the State Department of what is called the “Core Group for Haiti." The group consists of the United States and other countries and international organizations that are involved with promoting democracy and stability in Haiti.
MINUSTAH SHOULD STAY ANOTHER 12 MONTHS
During its meeting, the Core Group unanimously agreed that it should support a renewal for another 12 months at current force levels of a U.N. stabilization mission in Haiti, said Burns. He said the mission, known by the French acronym MINUSTAH, is essential for ensuring stability and peace in Haiti and for helping in that country’s fight against narcotics trafficking.
Burns said MINUSTAH is “making a great [and] positive difference” for Haiti and that to renew the mission for “anything less than 12 months would not be right.”
MINUSTAH currently employs more than 6,600 military personnel and more than 1,700 police officers, as well as hundreds of civilian staff member who assist the people of Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
The United States maintains a small military staff contingent in Haiti as part of MINUSTAH, which was created by a U.N. Security Council resolution on April 30, 2004. The mission’s original mandate was to remain in Haiti for a six-month period. It has been extended several times since its creation.
MINUSTAH’s mandate in Haiti will end on February 15 unless it is extended again. (See related article.)
Burns said Haiti has “undergone a quite profound transformation over the last year,” with a new government in place that is “bringing stability to the country” and which works “very well with the international community.”
Clerisme, the Haitian foreign minister, said the 22 countries and the eight international organizations represented at the Core Group meeting “spoke with one voice” to help Haiti’s government “regain its dignity and sovereignty.” Clerisme voiced full support for the Core Group’s goal to extend MINUSTAH for another 12 months.
More information on MINUSTAH is available on the mission’s Web site.
A transcript of Burns’ press briefing and the full text of a State Department media note are available on the State Department Web site.
For additional information on U.S. policy, see The Caribbean.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
