Rocky Road to Peace

A Cité Soleil district citizen walks near a United Nations Stabilization Mission for Haiti (MINUSTAH) vehicle, in Port-au-Prince.

Northern Hospitality
Grants to Help Strengthen Stability in Troubled Nation

Haitian Times Staff

The United States and Canada have pledged more than $30 million 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. Canada is earmarking $10 million.
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 Clerismé, 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.

Read more in the newsstand edition of The Haitian Times, or subscribe and get the Haitian Times at your door every week!