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Clinton cites exodus effect from Haitian capital
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-26 10:58
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 Haiti's Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive (L) listens as Canada's Prime Minister Stephan Harper (C) speaks during the Ministerial Preparatory Conference on Haiti, in Montreal, January 25, 2010. Also pictured is U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (R). Haiti needs at least five to 10 years of reconstruction help after its people were "bloodied, martyred and ruined" by the devastating earthquake this month, Bellerive said on Monday.[Agencies]  |
She also called on other countries to join Brazil, Argentina and other Latin American nations in contributing to the UN-led military and police force in Haiti.
She called Monday's conference "the beginning of a conversation" about Haiti's future that will continue for years.
On her flight to Montreal from Washington, Clinton told reporters traveling with her that the US, in collaboration with international donors and organizations, had been mapping out a plan for Haiti's development for months before the quake. She indicated this could be the basis for a revised plan now.
"I don't want to start from scratch, but we have to recognize the changed challenges that we are now confronting," she said.
Asked about a news report that Haiti would request $3 billion in aid during the Montreal conference, Bellerive said no specific request was made and that the Haitian government is still assessing its financial requirements.
"The government has no official number," he told reporters.
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Attending the conference were foreign ministers from more than a dozen countries, plus representatives of eight international bodies, including the United Nations and the Organization of American States, and six major non-governmental organizations. They hoped to set a target date for a followup conference at which donations would be pledged for Haiti's recovery and rebuilding.
Haiti's magnitude-7 earthquake killed an estimated 200,000 people and left the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere virtually without a functioning government. It wrecked the presidential palace, parliament, government ministries and the UN headquarters, among thousands of other structures.
Haiti's government wants many of the homeless to leave the capital city of 2 million people, to look for better shelter with relatives or others elsewhere. Officials estimate that about 235,000 have taken advantage of its offer of free transport to leave the city, and many others left on their own, some even walking.
