Just Foreign Policy News
March 11, 2010
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House Afghanistan Debate: What Kucinich Accomplished
Yesterday, at long last, there was a vigorous debate about the war in Afghanistan on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. The legislative vehicle was a resolution introduced by Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich calling for U.S. troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of the year. But House critics of the war have long been agitating for a real debate.
[includes video from the debate of Edwards, Grayson, Paul, Pingree, and Kucinich.] http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/11-11
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Summary:
U.S./Top News
1) British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called for early and substantive political negotiations between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban, the Washington Post reports. "Dialogue is not appeasement, and political space is not the same as veto power or domination," Miliband said. Miliband’s remarks went far beyond statements by U.S. officials, who have said talks would be better held after the military balance shifts toward the international coalition. Miliband suggested talks could proceed even as fighting escalated and indicated that he agreed with Afghan President Karzai that although "preconditions should set the terms of any eventual agreement, they should not prevent a dialogue from developing."
2) An open diplomatic row with Israel during the visit of Vice President Biden has shined a spotlight on the U.S. failure to rein in Israeli settlement ambitions and deepened Palestinian suspicions the US is too weak to broker a deal, AP reports. The Palestinians largely lost faith in the U.S. as a broker after Obama tried – and failed – to get the Netanyahu government to stop building on lands Palestinians claim for a future state, AP says.
3) The Palestinians pulled out of a new round of indirect peace talks, even before they had begun, as a protest at Israel’s decision to announce approval for hundreds of new homes in a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem, the Guardian reports. The decision represents a major setback to months of diplomacy by the US administration, the Guardian says. Amr Moussa, head of the Arab League, said he had been told by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, that "proximity talks" could not start unless Israel stopped expanding its settlements.
4) As the US military steadily reduces its presence in Haiti, President Obama pledged to remain committed to providing financial assistance and humanitarian relief to help Haitians rebuild and recover, the New York Times reports. The Navy said the hospital ship Comfort left Haiti on Wednesday for its home port, Baltimore. [The Baltimore Sun had reported that US doctors in Haiti had pleaded for the Comfort to stay, saying its facilities were needed to perform corrective surgeries on earthquake victims – JFP.]
Afghanistan
5) In Kabul, unemployment, poverty and corruption are regarded as more potent enemies than the Taliban, the Los Angeles Times reports. Afghanistan is plagued by 40% unemployment. "If the U.S. and other countries want a stable Afghanistan, they don’t need war, they need to build industries," said a coordinator with a relief and job placement agency. "People join the Taliban. Why? To feed their families. Instead of sending 15,000 soldiers to fight in Marja, why didn’t the U.S. spend those millions of dollars creating jobs?"
6) Afghan community leaders are still complaining about US forces raiding homes without consulting local leaders and detaining people without charge, evidence, or trial, AP reports.
Israel/Palestine
7) The Israeli government is planning 50,000 new housing units in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the international recognized border, Ha’aretz reports. If the East Jerusalem construction plans are implemented, they will make it impossible to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said an Israeli peace organization.
8) The family of American peace activist Rachel Corrie accused the Israeli military of whitewashing its investigation into her death in opening a civil case against Israel, AP reports. The Corries’ lawyer demanded a new investigation into her death.
Iran
9) Brazil’s president warned that U.S.-proposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program could lead to war, AP reports. "We don’t want to repeat in Iran what happened in Iraq. It’s not prudent for the world, it’s not prudent for Iran," President Lula said.
Haiti
10) Haitian President Préval pleaded for U.S. help plugging a multimillion-dollar budget gap caused by the earthquake but said he got a cool reception from congressional leaders, the Washington Post reports. Préval has repeatedly complained to U.S. officials about earthquake assistance bypassing his office. A Senate Foreign Relations Committee report said his frustration was "valid." However, the report added, "The [government of Haiti] does not have anything approximating the capacity to address the problems and run the programs to address them." Préval emphasized he has taken measures to reduce waste and fraud. Aides noted that progress on reining in corruption was one factor in the IMF’s decision last year to forgive $1.2 billion of Haiti’s debt.
Contents:
U.S./Top News
1) British Official Urges Afghan Leaders To Negotiate With Taliban
Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, Thursday, March 11, 2010; A10 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/10/AR2010031003888.html
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called Wednesday for early and substantive political negotiations between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban and other insurgent groups, saying that military successes will never be enough to end the war. "The idea of political engagement with those who would directly or indirectly attack our troops is difficult," Miliband said. "But dialogue is not appeasement, and political space is not the same as veto power or domination."
[…] Miliband’s remarks, made in a speech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, went far beyond statements by U.S. officials, who have said talks would be better held after the military balance shifts toward the international coalition and the insurgents have agreed to sever ties with al-Qaeda and lay down their arms.
[…] But Miliband suggested that talks could proceed even as fighting escalated and indicated that he agreed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai that although "preconditions should set the terms of any eventual agreement, they should not prevent a dialogue from developing."
In the face of overwhelming domestic opposition to the presence of nearly 10,000 British troops in Afghanistan – a tenth of the projected size of the U.S. force by this summer – the British government has taken the lead in promoting a negotiated political settlement. Karzai has scheduled a peace "jirga," or conference, for all national groups, including the Taliban, at the end of April.
Miliband said the jirga offers a chance to reconfigure political representation in the Afghan government, initially apportioned at a conference organized by the West in Bonn, Germany, after the United States and Afghan allies overthrew the Taliban government in late 2001. "It was right that the Taliban leaders were excluded from Bonn," Miliband said. "But other, more significant and legitimate groups were seriously underrepresented, most notably the various Pashtun confederations from which the Taliban draws its strength." Although Pashtuns make up about 40 percent of the population, and Karzai is a Pashtun, Afghanistan’s smaller ethnic groups play disproportionate roles in the government and the military.
Miliband said he supports U.S.-backed efforts to reintegrate low-level insurgent fighters into Afghan society. But without a comprehensive political settlement and Afghan government reforms, he said, "it will be hard to convince significant numbers of combatants that their interests will be better served by working with the government than by fighting against it."
Taliban leaders have publicly rejected a dialogue until foreign troops depart Afghanistan. But Miliband said he thought that they would be more amenable to negotiations backed by the United Nations and by other regional governments, whose concerns and differing interests in Afghanistan should be honestly acknowledged.
[…]
2) US-Israel row highlights quandary over settlements
Karin Laub and Steven Gutkin, Associated Press, Wed Mar 10, 6:25 pm ET http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100310/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians
Ramallah, West Bank – An open diplomatic row during the visit of Vice President Joe Biden has shined a spotlight on the U.S. failure to rein in Israeli settlement ambitions and deepened Palestinian suspicions that the United States is too weak to broker a deal. Biden’s handshakes and embraces gave way to one of the strongest rebukes of Israel by a senior U.S. official in years after Israel’s announcement during his visit that it plans to build 1,600 homes in disputed east Jerusalem. Israel apologized for the poor timing but is sticking to its plan to build the homes, enlarging one of the settlements that have impeded negotiations with Palestinians.
The vice president on Wednesday assured Palestinians the U.S. is squarely behind their bid for statehood and urged the sides to refrain from actions "that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of talks."
[…] Israel’s announcement was widely seen as a slap in the face to its all-important U.S. ally. It stirred significant anger among U.S. officials and widespread skepticism about whether the Obama administration would have the courage or the backing to take Israel to task as the U.S. relaunches long-stalled peace negotiations. The future of those talks was called into question late Wednesday when the Arab League recommended withdrawing support for them. "This is a global message of American weakness and Israeli arrogance," said Palestinian lawmaker Hanan Ashrawi.
The vice president’s visit had been largely aimed at repairing U.S.-Israeli ties strained over the very same issue now overshadowing Biden’s trip: Jewish settlements. Palestinians and the U.S. consider settlements built on lands claimed by the Palestinians to be obstacles to peace.
Biden condemned the Israeli announcement and pointedly arrived 90 minutes late to a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
[…] The Palestinians largely lost faith in the U.S. as a broker after Obama tried – and failed – to get the hawkish Netanyahu government to stop building on lands Palestinians claim for a future state. Netanyahu eventually agreed to a construction slowdown rather than a freeze, but that did little to mollify Palestinians. Abbas’ aides have said privately that if Obama can’t get Israel to play by the rules on settlements, he won’t be able to push on far more sensitive issues, such as a partition of Jerusalem.
[…] The fate of Jewish settlements is one of the most contentious issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Nearly 300,000 settlers live in the West Bank, in addition to 180,000 Israelis living in Jewish neighborhoods built in east Jerusalem. The Palestinians want both areas – captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war – along with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to become their future state. Netanyahu’s settlement slowdown pointedly excluded east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after 1967 and considers part of its capital. Netanyahu has said he will never share control of the holy city.
[…] Israel’s opposition Kadima Party said it is planning a no-confidence vote in the prime minister in parliament for "destroying" the Biden visit. The new construction plan also drew a sharp rebuke from Egypt, Israel’s closest ally in the Arab world, and from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Late Wednesday, the 22-nation Arab League recommended withdrawing support for indirect talks between Palestinians and Israelis. Abbas had agreed to resume indirect negotiations with Israel due to the backing from Arab countries. The league’s Arab peace initiative committee called for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers, saying Israel’s announcement showed it was not serious about negotiating. If the Israeli settlement moves are not halted immediately, the committee said, the talks would have "no meaning."
[…]
3) Palestinians snub peace talks because of Israeli homes expansion
Mahmoud Abbas ‘not ready to negotiate’ after Israel announces 1,600 new homes for East Jerusalem
Rory McCarthy, Guardian, Thursday 11 March 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/11/palestinian-peace-snub
The Palestinians pulled out of a new round of indirect peace talks last night, even before they had begun, as a protest at Israel’s decision to announce approval for hundreds of new homes in a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem. The decision to pull out, announced in Cairo by Amr Moussa, head of the Arab League, represents a major setback to months of diplomacy by the US administration and comes after the US vice-president, Joe Biden, delivered an unusually strong rebuke to Israel.
Amr Moussa said he had been told by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, that even this low-key process of so-called "proximity talks" could not start unless Israel stopped expanding its settlements. "The Palestinian side is not ready to negotiate under the present circumstances," Moussa said.
Israeli and Palestinian leaders have not held direct negotiations since Israel’s war in Gaza last year. The White House had won agreement on Monday from the two sides to begin the indirect talks, hoping they would lead to face-to-face meetings.
[…]
4) Obama Pledges U.S. Aid to Haiti
Jeff Zeleny, New York Times, March 10, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/world/americas/11prexy.html
Washington – As the United States military steadily reduces its presence in Haiti, President Obama pledged on Wednesday to remain committed to providing financial assistance and humanitarian relief to help Haitians rebuild and recover from their devastating earthquake two months ago. "The situation on the ground remains dire and people should be under no illusions that the crisis is over," Mr. Obama said after meeting with President René Préval of Haiti. With spring rains ahead, he added, "the challenge is now to prevent a second disaster."
The two leaders stood side by side in a ceremony in the Rose Garden, after a private meeting in the Oval Office, where Mr. Obama received an update on conditions in Haiti. The Navy said the hospital ship Comfort left Haiti on Wednesday for its home port, Baltimore.
[…] The Haitian government is devising a long-range reconstruction and development plan before a donors conference set for March 31 at the United Nations. Mr. Préval embraced the need for decentralization and shifting government and private facilities away from the battered capital, Port-au-Prince, and also urged the creation of a team at the United Nations that would be the disaster equivalent of peacekeepers.
The Pentagon said Wednesday that about 10,000 American military service members were still in Haiti, down from the peak of 22,000. About 4,700 are based on land, and 5,300 are on ships. The decreasing presence of the military was not a signal, Mr. Obama said, that the commitment of the United States was easing.
[…] The Comfort was among the most visible symbols of aid in Haiti, although it could deal with only the most urgent cases among the countless thousands of Haitians needing medical care. The ship provided the most sophisticated medical care available and treated 871 patients, but Navy officials said that it had not had any patients for more than a week. "The situation on the ground in terms of the medical situation has improved," said Jose Ruiz, a civilian spokesman for the United States Southern Command. "Demand for medical care is not exceeding the capacity of facilities on the ground."
[According to the Baltimore Sun, US doctors in Haiti had said that the Comfort should stay and that its medical facilities were needed for surgery for earthquake victims – JFP] […]
Afghanistan
5) In Kabul, hopelessness weighs on job hunters
Amid continuing war, Afghanistan is plagued by 40% unemployment. Infrastructure lags and the economy is plagued by mismanagement.
Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2010
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-afghan-jobless11-2010mar11,0,4330089.story
Kabul – The men come at dawn, a ragged, anxious collection of faces peeking through scarves and hoping for work as they stand in a traffic circle beneath billboards advertising war heroes and washing machines.
They are bricklayers, gardeners, hole diggers and carpenters. Sometimes they are tapped on the shoulder, most times they are not, so they hunch amid the cars and fruit stands, knowing that the higher the sun climbs the lower their chances of returning home with money in their pockets.
"One day we work, three days we don’t. How can life be good?" said Ahmed Jalal, poking his red-bearded chin through a crowd of laborers. "The Americans are sending cash to Afghanistan to build factories, but our officials are taking it for themselves. If there were factories do you think we’d be standing in this dusty place?"
As war with the Taliban rattles in the provinces, here in the capital, unemployment, poverty and corruption are regarded as more potent enemies. The national government extols the recent success of U.S. and Afghan troops pushing back militants in Marja, but jobless computer technicians and laborers who can’t buy bread have folded away all the pretty promises they have heard.
"If the U.S. and other countries want a stable Afghanistan, they don’t need war, they need to build industries," said Ahmad Morid Rahimi, a coordinator with a relief and job placement agency. "People join the Taliban. Why? To feed their families. Instead of sending 15,000 soldiers to fight in Marja, why didn’t the U.S. spend those millions of dollars creating jobs?"
[…]
6) Complaints Persist As US Frees Afghan Detainees
Kay Johnson, Associated Press, Thursday, March 11, 2010; 6:10 AM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031100507.html
Camp Dubs, Afghanistan – The Pashtun tribal leaders picked at the chocolate cake and fruit laid out for them at the conference table. Politely, they listened to speeches touting a new program to release detainees from Afghanistan’s largest U.S.-run military prison if community leaders vouch for them. Then, one of the elders from the eastern province of Logar stood up and started asking questions.
Why were the four men who were being released detained for months at the facility outside Bagram Air Field with no evidence? Why do American soldiers still raid homes without consulting local leaders? "The Afghan people are hearing a lot of talk," said Walir Wakil, a community leader who wore a yellow turban and a suit jacket over his traditional robes. Where, he asked, is the proof of President Barack Obama’s stated policy of foreign troops working more closely with local government?
The ceremony for a new community-release program established for the 600 suspected Taliban supporters held at Bagram prison led to pointed criticism that cut to the heart of the dilemma facing the NATO-led mission’s strategy in Afghanistan.
Since U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal took over as the military alliance’s commander last year, he’s made it a priority to consult local representatives as part of a counterinsurgency policy to win hearts and minds away from the Taliban insurgency. But often, events held to build goodwill end up airing years’ worth of pent-up grievance – such as during the prisoner release ceremony Wednesday at Camp Dubs, an Afghan army camp on Kabul’s outskirts.
Under a program started in January, local Afghan leaders can petition for and win release of Bagram prisoners not deemed a threat if area chiefs pledge to monitor them for signs they are aiding the insurgency. The policy is part of a transition for the Afghan government to take control of the controversial detention facility within a year.
The Bagram prison is a particularly sensitive issue in Afghanistan, where one of the population’s chief complaints has been foreign troops raiding homes at night and taking people away with little explanation.
[…] The U.S. military has in the past quietly freed Bagram detainees it deems no longer a threat. However, this week’s release was a formal event – billed as a "shura," the Afghan term for a gathering of elders – involving the provincial governor and dozens of local elders brought in from Logar, the province immediately south of Kabul that is a hotbed of Taliban activity.
One of the men freed Wednesday, Haji Katel, insisted he had been unfairly held. "We didn’t do anything wrong, and they arrested us," Katel, 67, said of himself and three other men, in their 30s, who were released. Katel was greeted like an elder statesman on his release, embraced with deference by the several dozen Logar officials who had signed a petition vouching for his character as a respected village figure who had been rounded up by mistake.
[…] Some Bagram detainees have been there for several years without any formal charge or evidence, and the deaths of two Afghan prisoners in 2002 led to prison abuse charges against several American troops. The secrecy under which prisoners have been held and their inability to challenge their detention has drawn condemnations from the U.N. and human rights groups.
The Obama administration has made some changes at the prison. Last year, the Pentagon assigned all detainees a U.S. military official as a personal representative and set up new military review board to hear arguments for release. All the prisoners were moved last year into a new, $60 million facility next to the air field. "There has been some significant improvement," said Nora Niland, a human rights expert for the United Nations in Afghanistan. "The type of torture stories we were hearing about a few years ago, no longer exist in terms of Bagram."
Still, critics say prisoners at Bagram should have more legal rights. Obama’s administration still backs the Bush-era stance that the Bagram detainees – who number 645, according to a list submitted in January in response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union – should not be allowed to challenge their indefinite detentions in U.S. courts as Guantanamo prisoners have done, arguing that Afghanistan is an active war zone with special dangers.
Israel/Palestine
7) Israel planning 50,000 housing units in East Jerusalem
Nir Hasson, Ha’aretz, 11/03/2010
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1155639.html
Some 50,000 new housing units in Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the Green Line are in various stages of planning and approval, planning officials told Haaretz. They said Jerusalem’s construction plans for the next few years, even decades, are expected to focus on East Jerusalem.
Most of the housing units will be built in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods beyond the Green Line, while a smaller number of them will be built in Arab neighborhoods. The plans for some 20,000 of the apartments are already in advanced stages of approval and implementation, while plans for the remainder have yet to be submitted to the planning committees.
The planned construction includes the 1,600 homes in the ultra-Orthodox East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo that were approved Tuesday. Saying the decision undermines peace talks, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has publicly condemned the move, which the Interior Ministry announced during his visit to Israel.
Ministry officials said the announcement was not intended to coincide with Biden’s visit.
If the East Jerusalem construction plans are implemented, they will make it impossible to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said an activist of the left-wing Ir Amim non-governmental organization.
"The first, most explosive ‘circle of construction’ in East Jerusalem is in the Old City," said Orly Noy of Ir Amim, which says it seeks to promote Israeli-Palestinian relations in Jerusalem. "The second circle is the ideological settlements being built in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods in the historic basin, and the third is expanding the existing neighborhoods in the east of the city."
Taken together, the East Jerusalem construction "will move Israel beyond the point of no return, as far as an agreed solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is concerned," she said.
[…]
8) Trial begins over death of US activist in Gaza
Shira Rubin, Associated Press, Wednesday, March 10, 2010; 11:51 AM http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/10/AR2010031000750.html
Haifa, Israel – The family of an American activist who was fatally crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza accused the Israeli military of whitewashing its investigation into the death Wednesday in opening a civil case against Israel. The parents of Rachel Corrie are seeking unspecified compensation from Israel’s Defense Ministry for their daughter’s death in 2003.
Corrie, 23, was killed when she tried to block a bulldozer from demolishing a Gaza home The driver said he didn’t see her, and the Israeli military has ruled her death an accident – a version her parents reject. Corrie was an activist with the International Solidarity Movement, a group that sends foreigners into volatile hot spots to assist Palestinians. The activists often place themselves between Israeli forces and Palestinians to try to stop the Israeli military from carrying out operations.
At Wednesday’s opening of the civil case, the Corries’ lawyer demanded a new investigation into her death. "The Israeli government is covering this up under the umbrella of combat activity, which absolves soldiers of responsibility, said Husein Abu Husein. He said he would present his case over the next two weeks, but a ruling isn’t expected for about a year.
[…] The Corries have previously unsuccessfully tried to sue Caterpillar Inc., the U.S. company that manufactured the bulldozer. They claimed the company was liable for aiding and abetting human rights violations. Corrie was from Olympia, Wash. Her parents have repeatedly returned to the Palestinian territories, including to the spot where she was killed. One other International Solidarity Movement activist has died from Israeli fire, and at least two others have been seriously wounded.
Iran
9) AP Interview: Silva says Iran sanctions dangerous
Alan Clendenning, Associated Press, Tue, Mar. 09, 2010
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/09/v-print/1520563/ap-interview-silva-says-iran-sanctions.html
Brazil’s president warned Tuesday that U.S.-proposed sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program could lead to war, and said he will make his own efforts to head off further conflicts – an example he said shows his country’s growing global prominence. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in an interview with The Associated Press that sanctions would likely push Iran further from the bargaining table. And that, he suggested, might lead to war.
"We don’t want to repeat in Iran what happened in Iraq. It’s not prudent for the world, it’s not prudent for Iran," Silva said, a week after rebuffing U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton’s appeal for Brazilian support for a new round of tough sanctions.
The Brazilian leader has become one of the world’s most popular public figures at home and abroad as he nears the end of his second four-year term in office. He has managed to keep friendly relations with U.S. Presidents Bush and Obama as well as with their sharpest critics, from Cuba to Venezuela and Iran – a country he is due to visit in May.
[…] Silva said he will try to convince Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to restart negotiations to ease concerns about the nuclear program. Ahmadinejad met Silva last year in Brazil, a visit that alarmed Washington. "I have already told them that a war must be avoided at all costs," Silva said. "In whose interest is a war?"
Silva has led Latin America’s largest nation to an increasingly assertive international role, based partly on growing economic importance. Few nations shook off the global recession more quickly and the country has announced vast new discoveries of oil.
Silva cited the Iran standoff and the struggling Mideast peace process as proof that the world’s traditional powers aren’t able to solve problems on their own. "Who decided that the United States, France, England, China and Russia represent the collective aspirations of our planet, the new geopolitics, the new world order – with nations that were poor yesterday but today are in the midst of extraordinary economic growth?" asked Silva, who has campaigned for a permanent Brazilian seat on the U.N. Security Council.
Silva also said Brazil has "moral and political authority to discuss this matter" of Iran’s nuclear program because Brazil is committed to the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. "We talk about peace here, not war," Silva said. He added: "What we’re trying to demonstrate to others is that it is time to talk. It’s not time for an embargo, not for sanctions; it’s time for us to talk a little more."
But he also indicated Brazil’s stance on sanctions is not set in stone. "If the president of Iran does not agree with Brazil, we will take our decisions based on what was discussed," Silva said.
And he criticized Ahmadinejad’s repeated questioning of the Holocaust and call for Israel’s destruction, but suggested political tensions are to blame for the inflammatory remarks. "It’s impossible to imagine someone saying there wasn’t a holocaust or to accept someone saying they’re going to do away with another country," Silva said. "All these things surface because the situation is very radicalized, it needs to be calmed down."
Underscoring his push to give Brazil a greater global role, Silva heads to the Middle East this week for visits to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian-governed West Bank.
[…]
Haiti
10) Haitian president renews call for direct aid from U.S.
Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post, Thursday, March 11, 2010; A03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/10/AR2010031001901.html
Haitian President René Préval pleaded Wednesday for U.S. help plugging a multimillion-dollar budget gap caused by the Jan. 12 earthquake but said he got a cool reception from congressional leaders wary of handing over cash.
Préval, who arrived in Washington on Monday night, said that his government’s revenue plunged 80 percent after the earthquake and that the losses would blast a $350 million hole in Haiti’s budget this year. "We are facing some urgency now. We are 1 million people living in the street," Préval told reporters and editors at The Washington Post.
[…] Scores of Haitian officials and international development experts have been hammering out an assessment of Haiti’s post-earthquake needs, expected in the next few days. But several U.S. officials said they had seen few specifics about the government’s ideas.
Cheryl Mills, chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, said in an interview this week that the U.S. government would look at the Haitian plan and pick several areas on which to concentrate, probably including agriculture, health, security and energy. "In coordination with the government of Haiti and the donor community, we want to be able to focus our investments where we can have greatest impact," said Mills, who is Clinton’s point person on Haiti.
Préval told The Post that U.S. legislators appeared reluctant to release funds to his government. "It is not in the habit of the U.S. Congress to give direct financial aid to other countries’ budgets," he said. "We must find a formula" to fill the gap, he said, such as U.S. support for a project rather than cash. Obama, he said, "understood very well. He’s going to support us."
In a Rose Garden ceremony with Préval, Obama appeared sympathetic to the Haitian leader’s concerns about the impending rainy season. "The challenge now is to prevent a second disaster," Obama said.
But a spokesman for the National Security Council, Ben Chang, declined to say whether the president supported providing cash to Haiti’s government. He said only that U.S. authorities have made it clear that "together with the rest of the international community, we are committed to working to help Haiti address both its short-term and long-term needs."
Préval has repeatedly complained to U.S. officials about earthquake assistance bypassing his office. A recent staff report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said his frustration was "valid." However, the report added, "it is not reasonable for him to define the solution to each problem as being resolved with just money. The GOH [government of Haiti] does not have anything approximating the capacity to address the problems and run the programs to address them."
In his visit to The Post, Préval emphasized that he has taken measures to reduce the waste and fraud associated with past Haitian governments. His aides noted that progress on reining in corruption was one factor in the International Monetary Fund’s decision last year to forgive $1.2 billion of Haiti’s debt.
–
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
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