MGHH01 HAITI: PRESIDENT/PRIME MINISTER CALL FOR

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 001313 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR, DRL, S/CRS, INR/IAA SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR TREASURY FOR MAUREEN WAFER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AEMR ASEC EAID PGOV HA SUBJECT: MGHH01 HAITI: PRESIDENT/PRIME MINISTER CALL FOR BROAD RECONSTRUCTION AFTER HURRICANES/FLOODS REF: PORT AU PRINCE 1246 ¶1. (U) This message is sensitive but unclassified. Please handle accordingly. ¶2. (U) Summary: President Rene Preval and Prime Minister Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis are publicly seeking to redirect international community attention beyond Haiti's emergency food needs toward the longer-term reconstruction of the country's battered infrastructure. End Summary. ¶3. (U) The President and Prime Minister participated in a September 14 telethon sponsored by the Haitian Chamber of Commerce and Industry soliciting contributions to help Haitian victims of the recent series of hurricanes and floods. The Ambassador also participated in the event. President Preval said that the Haitian and international community response to this disaster should focus both on emergency assistance and ''reconstruction.'' Reconstruction efforts should focus first on destroyed roads and bridges. He promised to rally international community support for Haiti. Preval said he would use his participation in the UN General Assembly September 25-26 for that purpose, including the September 25 meeting of Caribbean leaders hosted by Secretary Rice. The President publicly made a contribution of 25 thousand Haitian gourdes (USD 625) of his personal funds to help flood victims. (Note: As of late September 14, the fund drive had collected promised donations of 12 million Haitian gourdes (USD 300,000). End note.) ¶3. (U) Appearing the previous day before a crowd in Gonaives, the city hit hardest by recent floods, Prime Minister Pierre-Louis said that Haiti should use this crisis as an opportunity to push for "reconstruction." Speaking within sight of floodwaters that still cover broad swaths of the city nearly two weeks after the passage of Tropical Storm Hanna, she urged citizens of Gonaives not to resign themselves to their fate but to look for opportunities in this crisis to rebuild their city. The government would have to find a way to drain water from the large areas of the city that were still under water that in places was hip-deep. It would also have to repair road and bridge access to the city from the south and the capital, first by building a temporary culvert bridge over the Montrouis River at the town of Montrouis. She pointed out that some communities remained cut off, such as the town of Ennery in the Artibonite Department. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: The September 14 telethon was the first public attempt by President Preval to chart a national recovery strategy. While the President remains in the capital, the Prime Minister is visiting affected regions, trying to instill hope and unity, and appealing to the international community for further aid. Both leaders are telling their public and the world what is increasingly obvious on the ground: these storms have created not only the need for immediate emergency feeding, but also for longer-term rebuilding. SANDERSON