Prezidansyèl

Clinton Rankontre Avèk Kandida Prezidansyèl

US Sekretè Deta Hillary Clinton te rive an Ayiti dimanch pou yon vizit yon sèl-jou. Li te rankontre ak Prezidan Rene Preval ak pi bonè te rankontre ak chak nan twa jockeying a kandida yo ranplase l '.

Se sèlman de kandida ka ale nan wonn nan anreta dezyèm, kounye a pwograme pou 20 Mas. US la ap fè bak yon òganizasyon pou rekòmandasyon Eta Ameriken ki konstriksyon ofisyèl gouvènman Jude Celestin an, yo ta dwe kite soti nan favè mizisyen Michel Martelly.

Tèt US ofisyèl la nan Nasyon Zini, Susan Rice, te di dènyèman ke ke "pwolonje sipò" ki soti nan Etazini nesesè, rekòmandasyon yo OEA kapab aplike. Anpil ofisyèl ayisyen, ki gen ladan lidè yo nan pati Inite Preval la ak Martelly, entèprete ki vle di peyi Etazini an te fè menas yon anbago ak koupe èd.

Clinton kareman rebuffed ki sijesyon. "Nou pa ap pale sou nenpòt nan sa," li te di dimanch.

"Nou gen yon angajman fon nan pèp ayisyen an," li te di repòtè yo. "Sa ale nan èd imanitè, ki ale nan gouvènans ak demokrasi pwogram yo, ki pral nan yon sant pou tretman maladi kolera a."

Mande si te gen nenpòt seri sikonstans ki pwal akselere Washington a koupe èd, Clinton te di, "Nan pwen sa a, pa gen okenn."

Still, she insisted that the United States would press the recommendations by international monitors after a disorganized, fraud-ridden first-round presidential vote in November. The OAS determined that Celestin finished last and should drop out. Celestin has yet to do so.

"We're focused on helping the Haitian people," Clinton said ahead of the meetings. "One of the ways we want to help them is by making sure that their political choices are respected."

Haiti is in a deepening and potentially destabilizing political crisis. The announcement of preliminary results from the disputed first round led to rioting in December. Final results are expected to be announced Wednesday.

Just five days after, on Feb. 7, comes the constitutional end of Preval's five-year term.

A law passed by an expiring Senate last May would allow him to remain in power for an extra three months, but it is not clear if his government would continue to be recognized by donor countries. But Preval has said he does not want to hand power to an interim government.

"That's one of the problems we have to talk about," Clinton said. "There are issues of a continuing government, how that can be structured. And that's what I'm going to be discussing."

Leaders of Preval's party said last week that they would agree with Celestin stepping down, but the candidate has not commented since and his lawyers continue to plead his case to the electoral council. It is not clear what Preval himself thinks.

Sunday afternoon, each of the bickering presidential candidates arrived by SUV at the black metal gates of the U.S. ambassador's sprawling residence for individual meetings with Clinton.

Martelly came and went first. Mirlande Manigat, the former first lady who led the polling, met with Clinton second. Celestin's meeting came last.

Only Manigat stopped to talk to a small gaggle of mostly foreign reporters waiting at the gate.

"You don't get the sense that the United States wants the election to be canceled but you can feel that they would like there to be stability," the law professor said. "(Clinton) asked me what conditions I could find to make these elections more acceptable. I said a climate of calm ... (and) that they would make some changes in the electoral council."

Acknowledging the tight time frame for Haiti, Clinton said she wanted to hear ideas on how Haiti's transition should be handled but then make her own assessment on the best way forward.

The political crisis comes as the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation tries to restart its economy after decades of stifling poverty and unemployment, and the massive loss of life and infrastructure in last year's earthquake.

Hundreds of thousands of people remain in homeless camps and major rebuilding has not started. Underlying issues such as land-tenure reform and the development and reconstruction of government institutions have barely been addressed. Massive piles of rubble and collapsed buildings remain throughout the capital.

Meanwhile, a cholera epidemic that started outside the quake zone and has killed more than 4,000 people continues to rage. Clinton visited a tented treatment center Sunday.

She said reconstruction has been steady "but not adequate to the task that we are confronting."

"The problems are significant," Clinton told the pool of reporters traveling with her. "Like what do you do with all the rubble? It's a really big problem."