Haiti rebuilding not fast enough

PORT-AU-PRINCE - RECONSTRUCTION efforts after Haiti's devastating January 12 quake were 'not moving fast enough' for the homeless victims, a French representative said during a visit to the Caribbean nation.

Pierre Dusquesne, France's delegate to the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (CIRH), which met on Tuesday in Port-au-Prince, said he saw positive signs. 'Things are moving forward, we have a real plan for the development of Haiti, we have real coordination between donors,' he said. 'But it's a fact that for the people who are still living in tents, in makeshift shelters, things are not moving fast enough.'

Mr Dusquesne, who is responsible for economic issues related to Haitian reconstruction and development, is one of 26 members of the CIRH. The group, which comprises 13 foreign and 13 Haitian members, met for several hours Tuesday in Port-au-Prince during a session attended by Haiti's Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former US president Bill Clinton.

'We approved some 30 projects and identified financing for them,' from programs to clear rubble from Port-au-Prince's streets, to the construction of shelters for those made homeless by the quake, officials said. 'Now we cannot say that donors are not keeping their promises. We have firm pledges of US$904 million to finance close to 30 projects,' Mr Bellerive said.

'We are not going to simply rebuild building, we are going to build a country, a state, a new economy. It's absolutely central and the CIRH is a means not an end, but it's working well,' Mr Duquesne said.

Ahead of the session, the vice-president of Boeing, Anna Roosevelt, announced the firm was committing US$900,000 (S$1.2 billion) to education in Haiti. The company has pledged $2.2 million in total for Haitian relief and gave $1.3 million to the American Red Cross for relief work in the country.

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_567913.html

Miss Haiti hopes to share beauty of her country with the world

The first Miss Haiti in 22 years is not the typical contestant you'd find in a beauty pageant. She is a young lawyer who speaks four languages and is happy to be able to help her country after the horrific earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation last January.

Sarodj Bertin had a privileged childhood in Puerto Principe until age 9, when her mother, lawyer and opposition leader Mireille Durocher Bertin, was gunned down after announcing the creation of a political party that would compete with that of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the upcoming elections.

Her father then moved Sarodj and his other children to the neighbouring Dominican Republic, where the 24-year-old beauty, who considered her mother her idol, studied law and worked for the International Alliance for Haiti's Recovery.

Nevertheless, she was obsessed with the Miss Universe pageant. After the earthquake, she entered a contest, won and spent the last few months in Puerto Rico with the director of the Miss Dominican Republic and Miss Haiti franchises, Magali Febles, who took charge of her training for Miss Universe, to be held Aug. 23 in Las Vegas.

In a recent interview at the Miss Universe headquarters in New York, Ms. Bertin spoke with The Associated Press about the importance of her new role, how she expects to help her country and a mishap that would have been the end of the world to any other contestant: Her luggage with her entire Miss Universe wardrobe disappeared on a recent flight to Miami.

AP: What are you going to wear now that you have lost your Miss Universe wardrobe?

Ms. Bertin: The people of Haiti have been extremely supportive. They learned what happened and a few designers came to me and loaned me their gowns, bags, shoes. And I, I feel like the most special person in the world right now because they cared for me.

AP: You are a lawyer, you're studying for a masters, you speak French, Spanish, English and Creole, and you are learning Mandarin. You are not the typical Miss Universe contestant.

Ms. Bertin: The Miss Universe pageant has always been a dream for me, since I was a kid. I used to watch the contest and think, “Why is my country not participating? I want to see Haiti participating.” ... When I finished college, I gave up on the idea. I thought it would never happen. I thought someday ... I could celebrate the contest and send a girl myself. So when they told me that they were going to do it this year ... I trembled, I cried, I screamed.

AP: Some criticized the contest, considering it too frivolous, especially amid such a state of emergency.

Ms. Bertin: Everybody remembers Haiti in moments of crisis. ... I want them to see also the beauty that there is in my country, to be interested in giving opportunities to the young people. ... They should see it as a light, a hope.

AP: How do you think your participation in the contest can help your country?

Ms. Bertin: There are many people who want to help but don't know how and sometimes they need a voice to tell them what are the necessities of the people. I want the people, through me, to be who says what their necessities are.

AP: What are your expectations for the big day?

Ms. Bertin: Obviously, if I win I'm going to be the happiest woman. ... (But) regardless what occurs that night, my objectives are the same: work for my people.




http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/project-jacmel/other-stories/miss-haiti-hopes-to-share-beauty-of-her-country-with-the-world/article1675642/

Haiti struggles to clear quake debris for rebuilding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH-E9b8Rq5w

Haiti presidential list delayed

Haiti's electoral commission has postponed its ruling on who will be allowed to run in November's presidential elections, leaving the candidacy of hip-hop mogul Wyclef Jean, and other contenders, in limbo.

The decision was supposed to be released on Tuesday, but after a marathon session, the electoral commission decided to postpone until Friday the publication of the final list of approved presidential candidates.

At issue is a disagreement on the country's electoral law which stipulates that candidates must hold a Haitian passport and have five consecutive years of residence in Haiti, among other requirements.

More than 30 contenders are vying to replace Rene Preval, the current president, in the November 28 election and several have been scrutinised by the commission.

Al Jazeera's Sebastian Walker, reporting from the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, said that Jean "is having trouble making it clear that he had been a resident of Haiti for the last five years".

Prior to announcing his intention to run for president, Jean acted as a goodwill ambassador for Haiti, the country where he was born.

The New York-based singer said his role, working for the Haitian government, made international travel and foreign residency necessary parts of his public service.

Jacques Edouard Alexis, a former two-time prime minister and another presidential hopeful, and Leslie Voltaire, a US-educated urban planner and former minister, have also faced scrutiny from the electorial commission.


'Street support'

Some candidates who could be deemed uneligible, including Jean, "have significant support from the streets" and disallowing them to run "could lead to unrest," Al Jazeera's Walker said.

Jean, who left Haiti for the US at age nine, is popular with many Haitians, especially the youth, who see him a national success who never forgot his roots.

Several Haitian youth organisations and Creole music groups have undertaken to support his national campaign as a candidate for the Viv Ansan-m party.

The hip-hop star and three-time Grammy award-winner has, however, been criticised for lacking political experience.

"We await the CEP decision but the laws of the Haitian Constitution must be respected," he said in an email to The Associated Press news agency.

He also told the AP that he had gone into hiding after receiving death threats. Jean said he received a phone call telling him to get out of Haiti and that he was now in a secret location in the Caribbean country.

Preval, the current president, has been widely criticised in Haiti over his handling of the January 12 earth-quake that killed more than 200,000 people and destroyed much of the country's already weak infrastructure.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/08/2010818183714693940.html