March 3, 2010

EU policy chief heads to Haiti to discuss reconstruction effort

BRUSSELS, Belgium

EU Foreign Affairs chief Catherine Ashton is travelling to Haiti to discuss reconstruction efforts in the quake-ravaged Caribbean nation. The EU has pledged more than $600 million in humanitarian and other aid for the impoverished nation, in which 220,000 people were killed in the Jan. 12 temblor.

Ashton — criticized for not going to Haiti earlier — said this week she had stayed away so as not to take up airplane space better used for supplies and humanitarian personnel.

Initial demand for relief after the quake led to a backup of planes trying to land in Haiti, with hundreds on a waiting list and some rerouted to the Dominican Republic.

Ashton will join EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva, who arrived Sunday in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, and both will then meet with President Rene Preval and Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis.

There are now about 800 EU civil protection workers in Haiti. The EU has to date pledged $315 million in humanitarian aid, $100 million in help to restore Haiti’s government administration and $300 million for long-term development aid.

EU-members France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Britain have offered logistical help, including transport planes and ships, engineering expertise and heavy construction equipment.

Ashton said she is concerned about the upcoming rainy season, since nearly 100,000 Haitians are still without adequate shelter.

“The rebuilding will take years,” she said. “The EU is engaged for the long-term.”

Associated Press

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