Clinton: US to keep giving aid to Haiti

Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti

The United States has no plans to halt aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti in spite of a crisis over who will be the nation’s next leader but does insist that the president’s chosen successor be dropped from the race, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday.

Clinton arrived Sunday in the impoverished Caribbean nation for a brief visit. She is to meet with President Rene Preval and each of the three candidates jockeying to replace him.

Only two candidates can go on to the delayed second round, scheduled for March 20. The U.S. is backing an Organization of American States recommendation that the candidate from Preval’s party, government construction official Jude Celestin, should be left out.

The top U.S. official at the United Nations, Susan Rice, said recently that “sustained support” from the United States required the OAS recommendations be implemented. Many Haitian officials, including leaders of Preval’s Unity party and rival candidate Michel Martelly, interpreted that to mean the U.S. was threatening an embargo and cutting off aid.

Clinton flatly rebuffed that suggestion. “We have a deep commitment to the Haitian people,” she told reporters. “That goes to humanitarian aid, that goes to governance and democracy programs, that will be going to a cholera treatment center.”

Asked if there were any set of circumstances that would prompt Washington to cut off aid, Clinton said, “At this point, no.”

Haiti is in a deepening and potentially destabilizing political crisis. The announcement of preliminary results from the disputed first round led to rioting in December. Final results are expected to be announced Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a cholera epidemic that started outside the quake zone and has killed more than 4,000 people continues to rage.