CARICOM delegation visting Haiti

A Caribbean Community (CARICOM) delegation is visiting Haiti Saturday for talks with government officials as the impoverished country recovers from the January 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people and left more than one million homeless.

Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is leading the delegation, which includes former Jamaica Prime Minister, PJ Patterson, who holds the post of CARICOM Special representative to Haiti, and CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington.

The officials will also meet with personnel from the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), who are coordinating the region’s assistance to Haiti.

The Jamaica government had planned to pull out its troops from Haiti but reversed that decision Friday after it was assured that other Caribbean countries would be contributing to the regional recovery efforts.

Jamaica had complained that the daily cost of operating its base in Haiti, which is estimated at US$86,000, is too high for one country to meet.

The Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) has promised US$449,000 to cover expenses incurred up to January 30.

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton is visiting Haiti in his expanded role as United Nations coordinator of international quake relief efforts.

On his arrival Friday he pledged to see the tasks through to its successful conclusion "long after the television crews have gone and emergency response teams have returned to their home countries”.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Clinton UN Special Envoy for Haiti last May, following a visit they made together two months earlier to raise awareness of efforts to help its people and Government bolster economic security of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reiterated that shelter remains an urgent need, with the focus on providing emergency shelter closer to home or in smaller camps to reduce dislocation. OCHA said sanitation is also a significant concern, especially at temporary shelters.