Diplomacy aids Haiti's struggle: Ban Ki-moon, Bill Clinton to visit

[babylonsister]

Diplomacy aids Haiti's struggle

The United Nations will launch an unprecedented diplomatic effort in Haiti, beginning Monday with a visit by former President Bill Clinton.


BY JACQUELINE CHARLES
[e-mail]


Not since Haiti plunged into anarchy that led to the ouster of its democratically elected president five years ago has it received such targeted attention on the world stage.

But with Monday's arrival of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon comes a measure of hope that the nation's fortunes will begin to turn for the better.

Armed with star power and global influence, the two dignitaries are scheduled to arrive in Haiti's capital for an overnight visit that will include working meetings with Haitian President René Préval and Prime Minister Michèle Pierre-Louis.

Clinton, traveling with a delegation of business leaders, will also sit down with key Haitian business figures before touring the country's lingering devastation -- and its best prospects for hope.

It is an unprecedented diplomatic assault, launched by the United Nations and followed a day later with a rare visit by the international organization's most powerful body, the U.N. Security Council.

The hope is the series of high-profile visits will provide Haiti with the kind of global and humanitarian support it needs as it struggles with deepening poverty, donor fatigue and the worst humanitarian disaster in 100 years.

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http://www.miamiherald.com/582/story/939746.html

[ensho]

1. maybe, at last, real help can be given Haiti

hope so

[babylonsister]

2. Me, too. I'll never forget the story about the dirt cookies

the kids were eating, because that's all they had.