Haitians angry over slow aid

Saturday, February 06, 2010
PORT-AU-PRINCE: PROTESTS over the slow arrival of aid have flared in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince.

Former US president Bill Clinton pledged to try to get aid flowing here as he was met by angry Haitians protesting the slow arrival of help since last month's quake.

Clinton said he was sorry that the aid efforts had been so slow, adding he also wanted to understand why more than three weeks after the January 12 quake supplies were still not getting through to desperate Haitians.

Clinton told reporters as he visited a clinic in the ruined capital of Port-au-Prince. But the former president rejected suggestions he had in effect become governor of this small Caribbean nation.

Clinton also visited the government's de facto headquarters in a police building in the city, where about 200 people demonstrated outside to protest the lack of shelter.

A similar number gathered in front of the US embassy nearby. Participants said they hoped to meet Clinton, who was designated Wednesday as coordinator of international aid for the impoverished Caribbean nation by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. There have been persistent problems in getting aid to the more than one million Haitians left homeless after the 7.0-magnitude quake which leveled much of central Port-au-Prince and surrounding towns.

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