PORT-AU-PRINCE: READ OUT ON SECSTATE VISIT

UNCLAS PORT AU PRINCE 000062

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AEMR ASEC CASC KFLO MARR PREL PINR AMGT HA PGOV AID
EAID
SUBJECT: PORT-AU-PRINCE: READ OUT ON SECSTATE VISIT

REF: PORT AU PRINCE 40


1. (SBU) Summary: On January 16 Secretary Clinton,
Counselor Cheryl Mills, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah, and
Ambassador Merten met with President Preval anQime Minister
Bellerive. The President stated that his priorities are
restoration of telecommunications, electricity and transportation
routes. He also emphasized the importance of rebuilding government
buildings, improving the coordination of aid delivery with the GOH,
and getting the economy going again. The Secretary agreed to the
establishment of a joint coordination center under the control of
the GOH, with the U.S. and other donors. In order to address the
immediate need for government office space, Mills delivered to
Preval an MOU to lease the old U.S. Embassy in downtown
Port-au-Prince to the GOH Executive for USD $1 per year.




2. (SBU) Summary continued: In other meetings, SRSG Mulet
stated that MINUSTAH's priority is to reestablish governability and
to do so in a way that that enhances GOH credibility as progress is
made. UNDP Resident Representative Bolduc said that the UNDP is
working to promote the idea of establishing refugee camps. She
also said it is important to provide employment so that the
population does not sit idle and it has a stake in the country's
rebuilding. The Secretary stated that Preval is opposed to the
idea of camps, and that the USG must work to build support for the
idea within the GOH. End summary.



SECSTATE MEETS WITH PRESIDENT PREVAL AND PM BELLERIVE




3. (SBU) President Preval thanked the Secretary for her
visit and also thanked President and Mrs. Obama for their support.
Preval expressed his appreciation for the creation of the
Bush-Clinton Haiti Fund, which President Obama, along with former
Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, announced earlier in
the day. He lamented how over the past two years, Haiti struggled
with two major catastrophes: the four major hurricanes of 2008,
and this week's earthquake. Preval noted that a helicopter view of
the earthquake's mass destruction is very different from what is
seen on the ground, and reveals the details of suffering being
experienced by each home and family.



(SBU) According to Preval, GOH short-term support to the Haitian
population includes three top priorities:

* Telecommunications (Note: Preval mentioned how in the
immediate aftermath of the earthquake, his only means of
communicating with the Prime Minister and Cabinet members was by
having them arrive at his residence by motorcycle. End note.)

* Electricity

* Re-establishing transportation (clearing roads).

He also discussed the importance of caring for the injured in four
ways:

* Establishing military hospitals, especially in rural
areas.

* Providing tents and creating camps for the displaced
homeless

* Removing cadavers from the streets

* Rescuing those still trapped and missing

Preval reiterated the urgency of rescuing and supporting victims as
soon as possible.




4. (SBU) Preval concluded his opening remarks by raising
the economic importance of beginning to consider how to help
restore the economy, and suggested the creation of a guaranteed
fund in order to allow banks to re-open.




5. (SBU) Prime Minister Bellerive agreed with Preval's
priorities, and added that in order to address these priorities,
providing water, food, and shelter, in addition to reconstructing
transportation infrastructure, including roads and bridges is
essential. He added that there is an ongoing evaluation of
buildings still standing to see if they need to be demolished.
Bellerive said, "We need to have a vision of the future to see what
needs to be rebuilt-and it is not necessarily to re-construct what
has been destroyed." He added that one more priority is the
immediate construction of government buildings, "not necessarily
one building for each ministry," but called for the immediate
evaluation of potential sites.




6. (SBU) Preval said that the current priority is donor
coordination. He cited the fact that the Secretary's plane had to
circle the airport and delay landing due to air traffic as an
example of the lack of coordination. He described how the GOH is
often unaware of when aid is arriving, saying, "We need to know
exactly what we need and when we need it." Because they do not
know what is arriving in country, they do not know where to store
all the equipment and supplies that are arriving. He stress that
they needed USG leadership in assisting the overall coordination
with the UN.




7. (SBU) The Secretary agreed with Preval's assessment of
addressing immediate needs and priorities, while at the same time
re-establishing priorities. Regarding coordination, the Secretary
suggested creating a joint coordination center that would be
established by the GOH, with the U.S. and other donor countries
leading the initiative, to which Preval and Bellerive agreed. The
joint coordination center would be under the auspices of the GOH,
and the Secretary expressed how the USG and the international
community are ready to provide experts to assist. The location of
the joint coordination center is to be determined.




8. (SBU) Regarding the distribution of aid, the Secretary
offered to establish a system to know what is coming in and going
out of Haiti, and that the six existing distribution sites would
continue to remain stocked. The Secretary also added that military
hospitals are already being set up and would be fully staffed and
supported.




9. (SBU) The Secretary noted how fuel cannot come into
Haiti without repairing the ports first. The U.S. is sending a
team to survey how to begin rebuilding the ports. Currently most
fuel is arriving through private ports and to receive assistance in
this area, the GOH will need to sign an agreement as was recently
done for the airport. The Secretary raised concerns over the need
for a waiver of fees to enter ports. She also inquired as to
whether or not the GOH is preparing an emergency decree, as was
declared after the 2008 hurricanes. Bellerive mentioned that the
declaration of emergency has already been drafted in Creole and is
currently being translated.




10. (SBU) Department Counselor Cheryl Mills stressed the USG's
commitment to follow the GOH's lead. Preval responded by saying
that the GOH did not have the capability to handle the rescue and
reconstruction efforts by itself, but will be assisting with the
coordination effort. Counselor Mills assured Preval that the USG
was enlisting all of its assets to help, and that the military was
here for humanitarian relief and not as a security force (USAID
Administrator Rajeev Shah later assured that USAID will continue to
step up its humanitarian assistance, inside Port-au-Prince as well
as in other affected cities). Preval expressed that he is not
concerned with criticisms that military presence is an "occupation"
and reiterated that he welcomes MINUSTAH's support.


11. (SBU) Counselor Mills then offered, on behalf of the USG,
to lease the old U.S. Chancery to the government Executive for a
symbolic one dollar a year, addressing a longstanding request of
the GOH. The Ambassador presented Preval with a draft memorandum of
understanding to that effect.




12. (SBU) Preval's plan to attend the donor conference meeting
in the Dominican Republic on January 18 prompted the Secretary to
express her satisfaction at the DR's willingness to assist Haiti in
the relief effort. She suggested that Preval meet with former
President Bill Clinton upon his return on that day.



MEETING WITH UN SRSG MULET AND MINUSTAH FORCE COMMANDER PEIXOTO




13. (SBU) Present at the meeting in the Joint Operations Center,
were Secstate Clinton, Mills, Shah, Ambassador Merten, Special
Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) Edmond Mulet,
MINUSTAH Force Commander Major General Floriano Peixoto (Brazil),
Peixoto's Chief of Staff Colonel Quellette (Canada),UNDP Resident
Representative Kim Bolduc, and Mirta Kaulard representing the UN's
World Food Program. Mulet thanked the Secretary for U.S.
assistance and for Ambassador Merten's coordinating efforts. He
said that the situation was "going well," and while almost all of
MINUSTAH's military staff survived the earthquake, the civilian
staff suffered many losses and those vacancies are still being
filled.




14. (SBU) Mulet stated that MINUSTAH's priority is getting the
government back in place. In rebuilding the GOH capacity, he
emphasized that the government must have visibility - that is, it
should be put in front of the public to enhance GOH credibility as
progress is made. In conjunction with that priority, MINUSTAH is
also providing assistance by:

* Providing security at 30 gas stations;

* Working with the Haiti National Police (PNH) to
photograph bodies (for later identification) and to deposit them in
mass graves; and

* working with the Government of the Dominican Republic
(GODR) to provide security for a "humanitarian corridor" into
Haiti.

Mulet added that the PNH needs assistance, notably fuel (for
vehicles and generators),uniforms (for officers who lost them in
their destroyed homes),ammunition and megaphones.




15. (SBU) Mulet noted that not all of the damage is in
Port-au-Prince. He said that approximately 60 percent of buildings
were destroyed in Leogane, and at least 30 percent in Jacmel.
Mulet added that the road from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel has
"completely collapsed."




16. (SBU) Kim Bolduc stated that the UNDP is working to
coordinate donors and is promoting a proposal to establish camps to
house refugees and to distribute humanitarian supplies. To
establish such camps, it will necessary to find and clear suitable
areas, fence and secure them, and establish schools within them.
It is also important to employ the population so that they do not
sit idle, perhaps in work to improve Haiti's watersheds. Through
such projects, stated Bolduc, Haitians will have a stake in the
rebuilding of their country.




17. (SBU) Mulet agreed and said that it is important to put
Haitians back to work. While the situation is mostly calm with
little violence and people are acting responsibly, "that will not

last forever." He also commented that this is an opportunity to
rebuild Haiti better than it was before, and that superficial
repairs should be avoided. The Secretary agreed and said that Aceh
was a perfect example. Mulet added that in cases where buildings
have been damaged but not destroyed, they should be demolished.




18. (SBU) Myrta Koulard commented that the establishment of
camps is fundamental and she has asked the GOH for access to large
fields where camps can be constructed. In response, the GOH has
only offered recommended distribution points for humanitarian aid
which, according to Koulard, "does nothing" to prevent a situation
where the aid recipients "go back to nothing." Koulard also
discussed the establishment of aid corridors with the Dominican
Republic via air, sea and land. She added that her organization
needs warehousing points, human resources, security at distribution
points and protection for female aid beneficiaries.




19. (SBU) General Peixoto said that his troops are coordinating
with the U.S. military to provide security for humanitarian aid
distribution, searching for bodies, and digging mass graves.




20. (SBU) The Secretary thanked everyone for their efforts. She
said Haiti has seen a lot of progress in the last several years
and, despite this tragedy, the country's fundamental progress still
exists. The USG wants to "partner with and support you." The
Secretary said that in her meeting with Preval and Bellerive, they
asked for more coordination and they expressed their dislike for
the establishment of camps. Consequently, "we need to work to sell
them on the idea." Haiti is still in shock, she added, "but now
they can see and hear the response." The Secretary expressed the
U.S. commitment to assist MINUSTAH and the UNDP and to do
everything possible to respond to specific requests.




21. (SBU) Mills suggested that the GOH may be amenable to camps
if we continue to discuss the idea with them. The Secretary agreed
and said that the GOH believes that camps may make the security
situation worse. Consequently, "we need to find the expertise to
explain the idea and build support." She added that she had talked
with Dominican President Fernandez, who is willing to commit
troops. General Peixoto replied that such a commitment, in order
to be effective, must be sustained. The Secretary finished by
suggesting that the combined international relief effort needs a
"matrix" that outlines "where we are, where we are going, and where
we need to be," and by thanking all the participants.

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MERTEN