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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPU #0062/01 0192245
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191443Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0226
INFO HAITI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE

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. 
 
MINIMIZE CONSIDERED 
MERTEN