Haiti to use debt relief payment for security (Reuters)

[Eugene]

INTERVIEW-Haiti to use debt relief payment for security
20 Mar 2007 03:46:50 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Mica Rosenberg

GUATEMALA CITY, March 19 (Reuters) - Gang-ravaged Haiti plans
to spend a debt relief windfall on security improvements, despite
pressure to use it to reduce poverty, the country's government
said on Monday.

Haitian Finance Minister Daniel Dorsainvil told Reuters the presence
of gangs that rape and kidnap citizens and battle United Nations
peacekeepers meant the country needed to modernize its police
force, build prisons and train judges.

-snip-

Haiti, which is part of a broader global debt relief program being
managed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, will
receive interim debt relief of $20 million over the next two years.

Lobbying groups, many gathered in Guatemala, are pressuring the
Haitian government to make sure the relief helps the poorest people
in the country who do not have access to clean water, medicines
and proper food.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N19326304.htm