Agreement On Effort To Help Rebuilding Haiti
Concerned about corruption and wobbly Haitian leadership, international donors agreed Monday during a meeting in Montreal on a 10-year rebuilding effort for earthquake-damaged Haiti, one that would create an even better capital city and that the government said would cost 3 billion US dollar (ca. 15,5 milliarder DKR).
Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive tried to head off such fears: – The Haitian government is working in precarious conditions, but it can provide the leadership that people expect, he said at the opening of the conference.
Bellerive estimated it would take four or five years just to restore Port-au-Prince to what it once was. But the affects of the earthquake go far beyond the city. Bellerive said the entire country may have to be remade, as the displaced flee Port-au-Prince by the thousands for their home provinces.
UN and World Bank officials said the international effort to help Indonesia rebuild Aceh after the 2004 tsunami should serve as a model.
That means “involving to the maximum the local people, the local authorities, the local civil society and the central government”, said UN Under-Secre-tary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, adding: – It is crucial not to let outside players dominate too much.
The UN said Monday that it has so far received pledges of more than 270 million dollar in emergency relief funding for quake-hit Haiti, represen-ting nearly half of its target.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US would host an interna-tional donors conference for Haitian relief in March at UN headquarters in New York.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
