Remarks With Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh After Their Meeting
RemarksHillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of StateSana'a, YemenJanuary 11, 2011SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first let me thank, on behalf of my entire delegation, the president for his very warm hospitality today. As I told the president, we are committed to a broad relationship between our two countries. We face a common threat posed by the terrorists and al-Qaida, but our partnership goes beyond counterterrorism. We are focused not just on short-term threats, but long-term challenges. Yemen has announced a number of reforms that we in the international community look forward to supporting in the economic, social, and political sectors. We support an inclusive political process that will, in turn, support a unified, prosperous, stable, democratic Yemen.
And above all, the United States is committed to the people of Yemen, Mr. President. We want this to be a relationship not just between leaders and governments, but between the people of Yemen and the people of the United States of America. Thank you again, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT SALEH: Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, sir.
RESIST, INSIST, PERSIST, ENLIST.” - HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Secretary Clinton's Remarks With Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh After Their Meeting
Secretary Clinton's Surprise Visit to Yemen
No public schedule has been issued so far by the State Department, but we have this AP story thanks to Matt Lee.
Clinton in Yemen to press counterterror efforts
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Matthew Lee, Associated PressSANAA, Yemen – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday urged Yemen to step up cooperation with the United States as she made an unannounced visit here to shore up and repair damaged ties with a fragile and problematic ally that is fast becoming the main focus of American counterterrorism efforts.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Conversations with America: On Haiti in 2011: The Way Forward
Conversations with America: On Haiti in 2011: The Way Forward
InterviewThomas C. Adams
Special Coordinator for HaitiPhilip J. Crowley
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public AffairsPresident and CEO of InterAction Sam Worthington
Washington, DC
January 10, 2011
MR. CROWLEY: Hello, and welcome to the Department of State. I am P.J. Crowley, the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs. I’m joined by Tom Adams, the Special Coordinator for Haiti, Sam Worthington, who is the president and CEO of InterAction, and we’re here this morning to talk about Haiti, one year after the awful, terrible, tragic earthquake and what has happened – what happened on that day and what has happened since and what needs to be done over the coming years to -- as many leaders, including the Secretary General, Secretary Clinton, President Obama said -- to build back Haiti better.
But to start off, Tom, thanks for joining us, and Sam. And why don’t the two of you – what did happen a year ago, and what has happened in the year since?
MR. ADAMS: Thanks, P.J. A year ago, the most devastating earthquake that has ever hit a major urban center destroyed Port-au-Prince, killing 230,000 people or more, destroying buildings, infrastructure. And this was in a place that already was very poor, had the lowest statistics in the entire hemisphere. There was a very large international response, which, in hindsight, is probably one of the best of these kinds of rescue operations that’s ever been done, and the United States did its fair sure, but a lot of other organizations and countries also participated.
MR. WORTHINGTON: And, we had, unfortunately, massive destruction, and we hear these big numbers of 220,000 people killed or 300,000 injured, but really it comes down to families, families that were torn apart and have to get themselves back on their feet and the first place they went was into camps the international community mounted, which is one of the largest global responses to help individuals at least have a tarp over their head, that went to tents. And now we’re moving to the more difficult phase, which is really helping individuals, their families, and their communities get back on their feet.
The international community responded tremendously, not only governments but the American people. Through our members, the American people gave $1.3 billion. Those resources – as of approximately the end of October, about half of those resources were spent, and this is just in the day-to-day maintenance of camps, food, water, shelter. It’s an enormous global effort.
MR. CROWLEY: So for the average Haitian citizen today, perhaps in a camp, what is the day-to-day reality for them?
MR. ADAMS: Well, life is still very grim there, and your average Haitian is probably understandably concerned that with all this money that’s been pledged, all the NGOs working there, why hasn’t my life gotten better quicker. And the reality there is this is going to be – we have stabilized Haiti after the earthquake, and as I said, I think it was a very good job, by and large. But moving on, as you try to develop Haiti to turn around its economic problems – that’s going to take a decade or more. Now, that’s not to say you’re not going to see progress soon. I think in the next two or three years you are. But it’s not the kind of thing that happens overnight, unfortunately.
MR. WORTHINGTON: I think it sort of depends on what happened to you during the quake. If you were in slums or you lost your apartment building, were a renter, in many ways you’ll still find yourself in a camp. For others, economic activity is starting. There’s (inaudible) markets around the city. It’s certainly more vibrant than it was seven or eight, nine months ago. So you’re seeing life come back, but it really is family by family. It’s the ability of one driver to take care of 70 people, because he has the one job out there. But hundreds of thousands of Haitians are, in many ways, trying to improve their lives, and we think we need to see this response as a partnership with them. It’s slow, it’s difficult, some individuals do better than others, but there’s a clear momentum, even if it is a very slow momentum.
MR. CROWLEY: We must work through some areas. Start with the basic aspect of security. What is the situation on the ground today, from your standpoint, in terms of citizen safety?
MR. WORTHINGTON: If you’re living in camps and you’re a woman, at night, there’s risk. Individuals still monitor and have neighborhood watches to get a sense of what’s going on, lights are slowly be introduced in camps to give some degree security. At the higher level, there is a sense of a certain degree of political instability, not a clear sense of who’s going to win the election yet, and lots of hopes for the future. And it’s because these hopes are so great, and in many ways justified, that individuals are looking to their government and the international community to help them get out of their current rather difficult circumstances.
MR. CROWLEY: And Tom, Sam just mentioned the political situation. As we sit here, there’s been a first round of voting, and there’s a review of that voting, and then a second round of voting has been delayed. What’s the – how important is the political situation to being able to enact the plan that Haiti has put forward?
MR. ADAMS: It’s very important that the people in Haiti have confidence in their government, and part of getting that confidence is for them to think that their vote – to be sure that their votes counted in this election. So when the elections were announced, the results on the evening of the election – November 28th – there was a lot of charges of fraud. Even before the elections were over, as you know, the opposition was screaming fraud. And there were certain indicators, parallel vote counts and other things, that indicated that the results might be fraudulent.
In order to sort this out, the Government of Haiti asked for the Organization of American States to send an expert elections verification group down there, and they’ve been working since about Christmas going through a percentage of the votes, tabulating them, and I believe will announce the results later this week of what they think were the real results of the presidential elections.
MR. CROWLEY: And we always think of the victims of the earthquake – the government itself was victimized by the earthquake. You had a government with limited capacity and, in many respects, many of the ministries lost their leaders, lost workers with significant experience and capabilities. What’s the current status of the capacity of the Haitian Government to do what needs to be done?
MR. ADAMS: Well, estimates are that 15 percent of the government workforce was killed in the earthquake, which happened about 5 – 5 o’clock at night, and often the best people who were working what is considered fairly late in Haiti. If you add the people who probably immigrated from the government, a lot of them had visas and could leave the country, probably as much as 40 percent of the government workforce left, so this left a big hole.
In addition, almost all the government buildings were destroyed. I think 28 out of 29 ministries were – buildings were destroyed. We have helped somewhat by turning over the old U.S. Embassy and the old USAID mission as government offices. We are currently building a temporary parliament building, and we’ve done a number of other – taken a number of other steps to help strengthen the government.
But this will be a process. It takes time, as almost everything in Haiti will. There are big challenges building a new government, fixing the educational system, fixing the health system.
MR. WORTHINGTON: I think the reality of the shock to the government is as big as the shock that hit the people of Port-au-Prince. I had the opportunity to meet with President Preval earlier in March in the presidential palace, and there’s only one small wing at the back of the palace that is still standing.
And this translates into real challenges for the international nonprofit community, we call the NGO community. We had worked very closely with the ministry of planning. That ministry almost entirely collapsed, and most of the individuals with whom we’d worked for the past 20 years were killed. So you end up with a lack of sense of who’s doing what where, a lack of sense of the plans that existed, not because conversations and those discussions hadn’t happened as to what should be going on, but simply because that people were killed. So you really had to pick up the pieces from below zero. And it’s been amazing how far we’ve come, but there clearly is a lack of capacity that translates into a slower process of reconstruction. That’s understandable, but it is also very difficult.
MR. CROWLEY: And what about the current state of public health in Haiti?
MR. WORTHINGTON: If you were in the camps, you’ve been fortunate because there’s been a significant investment in sanitation. The first site I visited – I was in Haiti last week, and the first site I actually visited was the dump, the one and only dump for the city of Port-au-Prince, is where all the human waste goes. That dump, and it’s a very simple visual, unfortunately, when human wastes are dumped from the camps, all the sanitation, when those trucks come back to the camps, they’re sprayed with chlorine, so they’re disinfected. So you are stopping the spread of disease. It’s looking at those points of intervention, it’s the fact that there is clean water in most of the camps that has kept health situation in the camps far better than we expected.
We have experienced a cholera epidemic. It spread from the countryside into the camps. We’re seeing less death rate in the camps. Cholera clinics were stood up. They’re very much – they’re isolation areas so that they don’t spread.
But health over time is not about building clinics; it’s about the ability to have clean water throughout the country. It’s about having access to vaccines. It’s having access to medical care. So we can’t just look at the camps, we need to look at the whole country of Haiti and ultimately a partnership with the Haitian Government and its ability to care for its people through health services.
MR. ADAMS: Yeah, let me just add to that. In the aftermath of the earthquake, we knew that Haiti would be ripe for water-borne diseases, and there were certain surveillance and other measures put into place – warehouses were stocked with things that would be needed to fight it. And people thought it would be diphtheria or some other disease. There were immunizations given out very successfully against diphtheria and other diseases. No one guessed – would have guessed cholera. Cholera hasn’t been in Haiti perhaps in a hundred years, and maybe never. So cholera did take us a bit by surprise.
And also, I think the common wisdom was it would start in this dense damaged urban center; in fact, started out in the countryside. That said, the response was – of the international community was quick. We have – the United States has provided over $40 million worth of supplies. We also have a big CDC contingent down there, and they’re doing other things. The NGO community has also sprung into action, as have the international agencies, the UN and others.
But the truth of the matter is because there are no immunities in Haiti to cholera, it spiked rapidly. Also, their sanitation systems are the worst in the hemisphere, and that contributes to it. So I think you attack it in two ways. One is prevention, and we’re distributing Aquatabs, trying to make sure people have clean water, follow sanitation procedures. And also prompt treatment. It’s a very curable disease – cholera – if you get to a treatment center with a serious case. And the messaging there has been very good by the government. This whole effort has been led by their ministry of health, which is performing really above expectations, given how they too were damaged.
And the real key here will be to drive mortality rates down. Right now they are down a little above 2 percent. They started out at 10 percent. They’re down --
MR. CROWLEY: Two percent of those who contract –
MR. ADAMS: Who go to hospitals, yeah, who get serious cases. And three out of four people who get cholera are asymptomatic, by the way. So you can have it and not know it, basically. But we’re hoping to get it down even further. And again, this is going to be a large and continuing effort over the next few years.
Now, at another level, as Sam mentioned, they need sanitation systems, permanent ones. And that is part of the reconstruction plan. The Inter-American Development Bank, about a month ago, let out contracts, $48 million to put in water systems in most of the major towns in the country. And so that – at that higher level it’s being addressed as well, besides the immediate things, giving out clean water.
MR. CROWLEY: I want to get back to that plan in the future, but what about the economy? What was the state of the economy at the time of the earthquake and what has happened in the year since?
MR. ADAMS: Well, the economy was actually improving before the earthquake. They had had some pretty good economic growth, but it was eaten up by their growth in population, so their per capita GDP was actually declining. That was one problem. Although their population growth was also slowing too, so I think there were good trends in both those areas.
Since then, there is economic activity due to the assistance, and I think economists predict that for the next two or three years there will be a bounce from the cash-forward projects, all the construction. NGOs are hiring. In fact, businessmen complain that NGOs are driving up costs to people down there. So I think that will help prod the economy into some life. After that, we’re going to have to have sustainable jobs, and we’re working on that, too. The United States in particular is working to set up two industrial zones that will do largely textiles, but also furniture manufacturers and others have shown interest. And these could produce a significant number of sustainable jobs when they open. The first one would open about a year from March, the second one six months later.
There are other things we are doing to improve economic life. Agriculture is very inefficient there, and we can easily double or triple farmer income by showing them sort of more modern, efficient farming techniques.
MR. WORTHINGTON: And it comes – I mean, you have this investment of resources in the earthquake zone, and on Friday I saw – it was actually Thursday – a program by Concern Worldwide. They were paying about $1.6 million of Haitian salaries. And they were building temporary shelters – wooden frames, tin roofs – for about 6,000 families, cranking them out at an incredible pace because they’re paid by each house that was built, Haitian contractors laying the concrete, putting in the bars in place so that if the hurricane hits, the roofs are not torn off. So you have this investment because of the relief effort around the hurricane.
At the same time, most Haitians live in small farms. They live far from cities in little villages. And it’s the importance of getting those small holder farmers up to market. And when we looked and mapped our community and their work throughout Haiti, we found that most of their effort is actually not in Port-au-Prince in terms of economic activity; it’s throughout the country, as a recognition that you don’t want to draw everyone into the city simply because that’s where the earthquake and where jobs are now, but you really do need to build on the ability of the small holder farmer to have access to some form of market to increase her productivity and to have better roads to bring things to market. You see Port-au-Prince today; there’s lots of people carrying vegetables and goods on their heads as they walk to market into the city to sell. That’s not the most efficient way to transport goods, and that’s where we need to see some investment in the future.
MR. CROWLEY: Both of you have mentioned a plan. Now, I think there was a long-term plan that Haiti had developed before the earthquake. How much change did that have to undertake after the earthquake, and where does that planning process with the support of the UN, and I think led by the prime minister and former President Clinton – where does that stand now?
MR. ADAMS: Well, the Government of Haiti put forth a very good plan on how to reconstruct the country. It had a number of elements, political elements, economic elements. And it’s to that plan that donors have pledged their money, including the United States. And the mechanism to coordinate that assistance is, as you mentioned, through the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, the IHRC as it’s known, which is co-chaired by President Clinton and Jean-Max Bellerive. Donors belong to that and submit their projects through it. NGOs are not required to do that but are encouraged to do it, and a number of them do it.
And the benefit of doing that is when they do do it, the permits that come through the IHRC process are government permits as well because the government ministries are represented on the IHRC. So this has been a very effective mechanism, we think, for getting input from the NGO sector, from Haitian civic organizations, from the Government of Haiti, as well as from various donors and NGOs.
MR. CROWLEY: (inaudible) it involve a lot more synergy and coordination both in the public sector and the private sector (inaudible)?
MR. WORTHINGTON: I mean, if you compare this disaster to the tsunami, the level of coordination is simply at a different level among the NGO community, between the NGO community and governments, other donors, and so forth. And this plan provides a frame and a general direction. It means that you have a general sense of where you’re going. Our challenge is to translate the plan into operational direction, and that’s the big hurdle that we’re working on. How do you take a general concept of moving people out of the city, enabling individuals to have livelihoods? You’re building, perhaps – in this case, World Vision – 1,167 temporary shelters out in the Corail area. That’s part of the plan. And yet it’s at that operational level: How do you bring in the schools? Can you bring in livelihoods in that area? The challenge of the influx of more refugees around the Corail area. That’s the translation. And this is where some of the dilemmas come out and result in a movement forward, but sometimes very slow movement forward.
MR. CROWLEY: I mean, on shelter, there’s tension between developing temporary shelters, where someone could live there for an extended period of time, and being able to remove the rubble and begin to build permanent shelters. But I know there are land issues, deed issues. How do you resolve that tension, making lives better now versus being able to, a year from now or two from now, really start to rebuild communities in a vastly different way?
MR. ADAMS: I spent time walking through a neighborhood in Delmas in a project that was being managed by Catholic Relief Services, and they had an interesting effort. They had supported the local business woman. She – they provided her with a machine that crushed rubble. There was a group of young men working very hard around that machine while others were bringing in wheelbarrows of rubble to it. The machine crushed rubble, turned it into sand and fine rubble, which is then bagged and sold, sold to the individuals who are then building the concrete slabs for the new houses. So all the salaries of the entire effort were paid for by the sales of the crushed rubble. This project, which is being replicated throughout different places in Port-au-Prince, illustrates the type of effort – you can’t get into these side streets in any truck or anything. There’s only a wheelbarrow will go there. We saw individuals rebuilding their own houses, patching up their own houses (inaudible) construction. Others you’ve got a plot that’s clean and a temporary shelter goes up.
The challenge of long-term housing is it really does take years to put in place. And even right now, when we’re approximately 31,000 temporary shelters have been built – I talked with three major NGOs, they were cranking out about 500 a week. It’s a tremendous effort to build something of this scale. And we found that even those temporary shelters that were built, individuals were starting to put their own concrete around them to reinforce them over time. It really is one of the lessons we’ve learned from disasters and shelter, that a transition to temporary shelters is the best step and best way to go because you could help more people faster. And ultimately, they used the resources of that temporary shelter to build a new home for themselves.
MR. CROWLEY: And the challenge for – how do you, in the process of developing temporary shelters, bring any shelter up to a particular level of code so that should an earthquake or some other disaster happen to Haiti in the future, or maybe when a disaster happens in Haiti in the future, since it’s just as vulnerable to hurricanes as well – that we’re not going to see the same kind of devastation sometime in the future.
MR. ADAMS: Right, it’s actually pretty easy to bring these houses up to an earthquake and hurricane-proof code. I visited several neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince where we are repairing houses, and about half the housing in Port-au-Prince was not damaged. It’s green housing. Another, say, 30 percent is repairable housing, and only really when you get down to it, about 15 or 20 percent is – needs to be knocked down. So there’s a big effort to repair these houses.
And the way you do it when there’s a damaged wall is – in the old standard, these are cinderblock buildings, and the cement between the cinderblocks in the old Haitian model was this thick. Well, I had a guy show me there – he got two big Haitian workmen, and the night before he’d done two blocks – one with a very thick concrete between it and the other one a fingernail. And then he had these two Haitians – he kind of put these bricks together, had the two Haitians sit on a tee, and the one that had this much broke right away. The one that was this thick didn’t break with the two guys rocking. Put two more large Haitian men on their laps, they rocked; didn’t break. Only when they put a third large guy on there did it break. And then when you put a little rebar in there, you have a very strong structure. And the workmen who saw this demonstration were converted. They went around preaching it, putting this done.
So there are these kinds of standards that are being interpreted for local construction, repair. But as you pointed out, when you go in these neighborhoods and remove rubble by hand, you can’t do it mechanized because that erases property lines, so that’s a slow process. But in most of these disasters, the rebuilding didn’t hit its peak until about 18 months after, and you see this. I know rubble removal was slow at first. It’s picked up in recent months. T-shelter building has picked up as well as these NGOs figure out the system, figure out how to work through Customs and all the challenges that are down there.
Now on the t-shelters, they in theory are much quicker. You take a plot of land; you don’t have to clear off the rubble and do it. And there again, we have been slow. The United States has built about 13,000 t-shelters, about half of the total, and we did not meet our targets because the NGOs have just had some problems. Some NGOs figure it out; others haven’t. But again, they’re all picking up their pace. So we will do – I think in the next six to eight months, you’ll see a lot more building of temporary shelters and repair of the old homes.
MR. WORTHINGTON: When you talk about the types of problems you have, you have a piece of land, there are two owners of the land, you have a building on the land, there are three people claiming ownership for the building, there’s no set one title system, it’s a discussion then with the neighborhood as to really who does own the land. And you end up with a slow, complicated process of establishing a plot so that when you do build something, the person on that plot can really have some rightful claim.
We’re recognizing that this is a country that did not have a title system, nor a legal system around titles, so it really comes down to a community-level conversation. And to rush those conversations could be making mistakes, even if it means putting up housing quicker.
MR. CROWLEY: I want to draw some questions in from our viewing audience, but just one last one before we do. You were talking about how do you scale this up. And perhaps, given other experiences – the Somalian is one example – broadly speaking, are we on an appropriate track here, and – or are we a bit behind schedule, in your view?
MR. WORTHINGTON: You look at the level of suffering and it’s hard to say we’re on an appropriate track. If you compare it to other disasters, we’re operating at a pace that’s faster in many ways. You’ve got 90 percent of the children that were in school before the earthquake are now back in school. Those schools are tents. As of – Save the Children, they’re in the process of trying to build about 54 schools over the next year. These efforts will take time. But the reality that (inaudible) 90 percent of the children are back in school sounds good except that half the children were not in school before the earthquake. So we have to recognize that building Haiti is in many ways building Haiti for the first time. It is not rebuilding Haiti. It is enabling a country, a people, to build the society that – the society they want. And that will take a lot of time because we started in a very different place than, for example, in Chile or other places. We started from a very poor country with little infrastructure, and it’s that commitment long-term, that’s the crucial bit at this point in time.
MR. ADAMS: That’s a very good point. Yeah, I think before the earthquake, I think you should realize, six out of seven people in Port-au-Prince lived in miserable slums without access to clean water, or 40 percent of the people in Haiti had no access to healthcare. We could go on and on with these statistics, but they’re pretty grim.
MR. CROWLEY: But the time factor is – are we talking a decade? Or we talking two, of sustained effort internationally to get Haiti where it needs to be?
MR. ADAMS: I think Haiti’s going to need at least a decade of sustained effort, and I think we are certainly committed to that in the U.S. Government. I think our partners are. I know the NGO community is also committed to the long term there.
MR. WORTHINGTON: Many of our organizations have been there 20 years. We don’t want to be there for another 20 years. But it’s also important to recognize that to build a better Haiti that as much effort has to happen outside Port-au-Prince, that we need to tap into economic quarters, that we need to help individuals reach up to markets. Basic issues of literacy, hoping and investing in education so that there’s less brain drain and more individuals who graduate from high school stay in the country. And creating an environment where U.S. business, but more importantly the Diaspora and other businesses can invest in this country. And only then will you see Haiti move. It will take 10 years before we see Port-au-Prince back to where it could be. But it needs – we’re talking about a generational investment. And the American people, I would hope, see Haiti as a partner for the long term.
MR. CROWLEY: Speaking of that relief effort, Johanna H in California wrote us and said it appears we’ve been wasting valuable resources in Haiti doing things the wrong way. Most Haitians do not feel the U.S.-approved elections were truly democratic. Reconstruction plans only benefit a small group of people, maybe only favored by 17 percent of Haitians, according to an Oxfam poll. And the UN stabilization mission – the UN’s played an important role here – is building roads, dams, instead of holding guns. Who’s benefiting from the foreign policy in Haiti?
MR. ADAMS: Well, I think most Haitians benefit in some way from the reconstruction assistance. And when I go to the tent camps and start talking to people, they say, “Oh, I haven’t seen that check that I should be getting here.” And I said, “Well, who gave you the tent you’re living in? Who gives you your water? Who built a clinic there? Who educates your kids? Who does the feeding program?” So, I mean, I think there are benefits flowing to Haitians. There’s cash-for-work programs that employ a lot of people. So there are benefits flowing to, I think, the most needy. Indications are that Haitians who were malnourished before the earthquake are better nourished. There’s still some malnutrition there, and we have targeted – we still feed about 1.7 million Haitians a day for that reason.
The elections were problematic. Elections in Haiti are always problematic, always associated with violence. And I think the key here is we are getting it sorted out with the help of the OAS and will do so. So I don't think our money has been wasted there. A lot of the money that we spent in the past has saved lives, has built some infrastructure, and built capacity.
MR. WORTHINGTON: I’ve seen real concrete results, and non-profits, NGOs – I mean, we’re not part of U.S. foreign policy. Our focus is on the poorest, weakest individuals in the camp, and yet we’re part of the system that is responding. And in focusing on the weakest individuals – I’ll give an example I gave earlier of Corail – the individuals in that camp were indentified through a survey process that the USAID had funded as individuals most at risk as being washed away during hurricane season. They voluntarily asked to leave. They were resettled in a new area and provided with shelter. There’s then someone right next door who says, why didn’t – did they get the shelter and not me. And it’s understandable with so much need that those who get something more than others, it raises questions.
But the real effort has been to provide broader services. And the service – provision of services creates a tension for a non-profit. You can provide services in a camp – fresh water, access to medical services, shelter of some degree – that are actually, unfortunately, better than where individuals were outside that camp. So the camps become a magnet. Do you, over time, actually lessen your investment in services in that camp as you increase services in a neighborhood, enabling individuals to start up their houses in a more sustainable way?
It’s that transition of services that we are beginning to see in different parts of Haiti. It leads to tremendous tensions, perhaps of who has and who doesn’t have; if you were feeding someone you’re not anymore because you don’t want the camps to be non-sustainable over time; you’re a clinic that was in a camp, has moved out into a community. And at that point you have this transition. That is difficult. It requires a lot of community outreach, and it’s understandable that people want us to do more.
MR. CROWLEY: You were talking earlier about the difference between what’s happening in Port-au-Prince and also helping all of Haiti. Randy in California writes about decentralization. What steps are being taken to diffuse both workplaces, offices, and populations away from the capital, and how much success has there been in this, or a timeline for not only rebuilding Port-au-Prince but also building more significantly the outlying areas?
MR. WORTHINGTON: I mean, you’re going to ultimately have to end up with solid economic zones outside Port-au-Prince. Port-au-Prince will remain a magnet for individuals to move in. We have mapped where the NGO community is working and found that most of the activity of our community – and this is at InterAction\Haiti – it’s our map of – well, it’s roughly half of the NGOs operating there. It provides details on some 500 projects. Those projects are primarily in rural areas, and the challenge is - is that there isn’t enough economic activity in rural areas or other viable ways to get to market without going to Port-au-Prince. And that’s where we need these economic zones, different economic zones in the future.
MR. ADAMS: Let me add to that, if I may, P.J. The current Haiti constitution allows for decentralization, stronger local government, but it’s never been implemented or funded. The government, in its development plan, committed itself to greater decentralization. And just as the services that are most important to us are local here – our garbage collection, our police, you name it – the same is true – is going to be true in Haiti and should be true. Decentralized services are much more efficient because the providers are closer to the people.
So there is a plan to do that. And one of that is, as Sam said, to build these economic zones. We have three economic development zones outside of Port-au-Prince to develop. One is up in Cap-Haitien, one is kind of in the middle of country, and one is on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Other countries are working in the south and the west and other countries to develop these economic zones. And part of that is building housing for government workers, sort of middle-class housing, and putting in other infrastructure so that we do really decentralize and have prosperity throughout the country and decongest Port-au-Prince.
MR. CROWLEY: What was the population of Port-au-Prince at the time of the earthquake, and what do we – what does the Haitian Government see as a more appropriate, sustainable level? So in other -, how much movement for the population will it not only envision, but incentivize to try to get them to do that?
MR. ADAMS: Yeah, I think before the earthquake it was something like 4 million people, but it’s the only place where there were jobs. And after the earthquake, with all of the rubble removal, the reconstruction, everybody flocked in from the countryside looking for those jobs. Since then, there has been some return to the countryside, but we need to move the jobs elsewhere.
MR. WORTHINGTON: And the challenge is, as in most countries, developing countries in the world, that it is the capital city that is the draw. And it has been very difficult to create other areas. It’s entirely possible that Port-au-Prince remains its same size for years to come, but that as population increases in Haiti that that population spreads in different areas. That’s what I would hope for over time. It is clearly an – overpopulated, as the city was built for 300,000 people with over 3 million living there. There’s no land available to do much of anything. The big difference between this earthquake and the response to the tsunami in Indonesia is, in the tsunami, NGOs had large spaces to build villages and large construction efforts. Here there’s no land to do that. It is densely packed neighborhoods, and it’s rebuilding one house at a time.
MR. CROWLEY: We do have a global audience for Conversations with America, and we’re fascinated by Irdis from Sudan writing in: Why is there no political stability in Haiti when there are so many people suffering from illness and the lack of food? And this comes at a time where Sudan is going through a very important referendum for its future. But we’ve talked – we touched about the importance of the ongoing election, but how much time will it take to kind of build the institutions, whether it’s in the capital, at the national level, or outside at the local level, that provides Haiti with that kind of stability that it badly needs?
MR. WORTHINGTON: I think for the NGO community our job is not to build governments, but we can build local government. We can help a local mayor, we can (inaudible) staff into a local CODEP that is engaged in planning in a region. And it is that partnership with government. It’s a recognition that you’re there as a guest, that your resources can and should work with a local government.
But we’re talking about a time of decades. It’s –one individual who’s run one of the CODEP areas, which is one of the local communes that sort of manage a small area of about 140,000 people he mentioned. He talked that most of the individuals running this have between eight or nine years of education. You need to have a sustained process of investing in the capacity of the Haitian people and also in the capacity of this government. And we look at it from the bottom up, and then it’s the broader international community that helps in the other direction.
MR. ADAMS: Yeah, I mean, Haiti needs more policemen. They have about 7,000 policemen who are fairly well respected due to a lot of training that was done before the earthquake. They need more like 12,000, at least. And so to help them out until they get there, MINUSTAH – the United Nations – has police and military there. The military often comes from Brazil or Chile or a country in the region, and that’s – they do a lot of good things for the country.
Their judicial system needs retuning. It’s largely broken. Their prisons are very, very poor shape, and so there needs to be prison building. So I think getting that whole judicial system up and running is a challenge, and we’re already engaged in that with help from the UN and a lot of other organizations.
MR. CROWLEY: We’re coming to the conclusion of our program, but maybe one last question is: If we’re sitting here a year from now, how would you hope that the picture in Haiti is different one year from now than it is today?
MR. ADAMS: Yeah, I’ll just say, when I took this job, I asked people, I said, “How come Haiti stagnated while the Dominican Republic soared economically.” Because about 40 years ago they were both at the same place. In fact, Haiti was slightly above there. And I asked every development economist I met what was the difference. And the best answer I got was basically the Dominican Republic had slightly better dictators than Haiti did back in the old days, and they were able to get the economic pendulum swinging upward.
I don’t think – and I say that for a couple of reasons. One is you don’t have to have a perfect government to make economic progress. And so people who insist that we fix everything in Haiti before there’s progress, you don’t need to. You just need to make certain good macroeconomic decisions. And I think we’re – we know how to do that and we are doing that.
So a year from now, I think the picture on the ground will be much better because, as I said, we’re picking up momentum as we go along. And I think in two or three years, you’ll see significant numbers of sustain – sustainable jobs being created in Haiti, and that’s really the key to success there.
MR. CROWLEY: And how important is the – resolving the election in a way that helps to continue to promote that momentum?
MR. ADAMS: It’s important in two ways. One, the people of Haiti have to have confidence in their government. They have historically not had much confidence in their government. And then we need to help the government to perform better, and there’s a lot of assistance going to building up the government. But also, investors need to have confidence in Haiti. As Robert Rubin used to say, “Capital is a coward.” And they’ll go elsewhere if Haiti is viewed as unstable. So again, the leaders in Haiti, the political leaders, have to figure out a way to bring political stability there.
MR. CROWLEY: What would you like to see over the next 12 months?
MR. WORTHINGTON: It’s going to be a long, hard (inaudible). The first thing I’d like to see from outside Haiti is that the international community is still paying attention, that we’re still there, that we recognize that this is not a quick fix. It depends, to some extent, how the elections come out and, hopefully if there is – and this would be the best we could see – some clear vision from the Haitian Government of where to bring the Haitian people, a vision that resonates with people in the camps we’re rebuilding, then taking the hard steps of taking these broad plans that have been established and making them operational and sticking with the framework that has been put in place. And part of that effort requires an outreach to Haitian civil society, because ultimately this is about the Haitian people and their organization.
And my wish is a year from now is that there is a good dialogue between the Haitian Government, Haitian civil society, that the effort – the momentum that many NGOs are saying they have today – is seeing the point where groups are starting to pull out, that camps are closed not because people have been forced out, but because there is clearly a place to go. It is likely that there’ll still be some camps a year from now. But I would like to see a Haiti a year from now with the vast majority of the people who are affected by this earthquake have some form of livelihood to pull themselves together.
MR. CROWLEY: And finally, in terms of being able to draw that capital into Haiti and be able to sustain the momentum and the attention from the international community, how important is the role of the Diaspora, say, within the United States in terms of keeping the pressure on governments and the international community to continue to sustain this effort?
MR. WORTHINGTON: That is crucial. Yes, we’ll push our Congress, push other actors here in the United States that this is not something that we give up, that this is in the national interest, in the interest of families, it’s a humanitarian venture. But ultimately, something that this is really a true test of the international community. We are trying to help a nation stand itself up after an incredible devastation in one of the world’s largest humanitarian efforts.
If we succeed at doing this, we will be able to show in partnership with the Haitian people and the Haitian Government that we know how to handle these things. And I think our challenge is to look at that goal over time and to recognize, even though we may have setbacks one year or the next, that ultimately we have no choice but to achieve it.
MR. CROWLEY: Gentlemen, Tom Adams, Sam Worthington, thank you very much for joining us and thank you for joining us for another Conversation With America.
Slideshow: Secretary Clinton in Abu-Dhabi and Dubai
Secretary Clinton's Remarks at The Masdar Institute (U.A.E.) **Updated with Video**
Remarks at The Masdar Institute
RemarksHillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of StateAbu Dhabi, United Arab EmiratesJanuary 10, 2011Well, good afternoon, and it is such a pleasure for me to be here. I want to thank Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE’s special envoy for climate change and CEO of Masdar, Adnan Amin, the new interim director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency, known as IRENA, which will have its permanent headquarters here in Masdar City, and Dr. Fred Moavenzadeh, the president of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, and a professor from MIT.
This is a very exciting and important visit for me personally, and I thank His Excellency for those kind words. But the partnership that we have established between the United States and Abu Dhabi around renewable energy and climate change and sustainable development that takes advantage of human capital is one of the most important partnerships for the future that we could be pursuing.
We have a special connection with the institute because of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of our nation’s top universities, and because of the Department of Energy. We believe that the work that is being done here at Masdar has the potential to solve some of the most urgent challenges facing our planet. How do we develop sustainable energy sources that can power our cities without contributing to climate change? How do we create technologies that are scalable and both use less power and are widely affordable? How do we supply water for drinking and farming in places where fresh water sources are decreasing? How do we achieve economic growth without relying so heavily on fossil fuels where they’re drilling for them, selling them, buying them, or burning them?
Now, these challenges are pressing across the world, but they are especially significant here in the Gulf. We know that oil supplies are shrinking, water tables are declining. The old strategies for growth and prosperity will no longer work. For too many people in too many places, the status quo today is unsustainable. And the UAE is leading our work and the path we must take into the future. It is putting into practice what it means to be sustainable and laying the groundwork for economic, environmental, and social progress.
What I admire about the steps that the UAE has taken is that it’s not only this institute, which is very impressive just to be part of and to view, but it’s also working while continuing your role as a leading oil producer, investing in renewable energy sources like wind and solar, and moving toward a knowledge-based economy by investing in education, as I saw this morning at Zayed University. UAE is positioning itself to be a center for innovation and entrepreneurship for years to come.
Now, I would imagine that many other countries are going to be looking to you to learn how to do this. You will have the model that will demonstrate to others what it takes to achieve renewable energy and sustainable growth. To that end, we look forward to the positive impact that IRENA will have. The United States applauds IRENA’s goal of accelerating the rapid development and deployment of renewable energy worldwide. We want to enhance energy security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, address energy poverty, support sustainable development, and boost economic growth worldwide. And we congratulate Abu Dhabi on hosting IRENA.
This is the first truly international organization to be headquartered in the Middle East, and we have high hopes that it will provide a link between developed and developing countries in sustainable energy production. And we want it to be a truly global organization open to representative offices here in the UAE, to every country willing to abide by its principles and commit to its goals to translate good intentions into concrete results.
I am very pleased that the United States and the UAE have deepened our partnership on energy in recent months. Masdar and the U.S. Department of Energy signed a memorandum of understanding last year to promote joint research and development of clean energy technologies. Our two countries along with nearly two dozen others held our first ever high-level ministerial meeting on clean energy last June in Washington, and Abu Dhabi will host the second meeting here in April. And in a week, U.S. public and private sector representatives will join people around the world here in Abu Dhabi at the World Future Energy Summit.
This work is in the interest of not only global progress, but also our own domestic interests as well, because clean energy will be a driver for good jobs. I know that there are many talented people here in the UAE, and giving scientists and engineers and technicians the opportunity to participate in the clean energy revolution will bring good jobs to UAE, more income, and a greater ability to create and spin off businesses.
UAE is so well positioned to compete in the 21st century because of your commitment to clean, renewable energy. We are fully committed to supporting your work and we will do everything we can, through our academic institutions like MIT, through our government, like the Department of Energy and the State Department, and through our private sector to bring more jobs and bring more innovative entrepreneurial spirit here to the UAE. There is so much we can do together.
And I would add that part of the reason for my trip is not only to meet with leaders, as I’ve had the chance to do, but also to talk with the citizens of this country, as I did earlier at the town hall, but also to highlight the very creative efforts that are being undertaken here in Abu Dhabi. I want my country to know how advanced you are in pursuing clean, renewable energy. I want the world to know that the United States is partnering with you, because we are betting on Abu Dhabi and the UAE. We are betting that this incredible investment represented by Masdar is going to pay off. And when it pays off, it will not only mean a better life for the people of this country and this region. It will have ripple effects throughout the world.
One of our challenges is how do we raise the standard of living in poor countries. We cannot do it by recreating the past. We have to do it by leapfrogging into the future. And the technologies that you will pioneer here will enable a poor African or Asian or Latin American country to have a better future as well.
So I express our gratitude to the leadership and the people of the UAE for being visionary, innovative, creative, and at the same time very practical about how you intend to achieve your goals. We are proud to be your partner and we’re looking forward to achieving real progress for our citizens in both of our countries and for the world at large. Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: Public Schedule for January 10, 2011
Public Schedule for January 10, 2011
Public ScheduleWashington, DCJanuary 10, 2011
SECRETARY OF STATE HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
Secretary Clinton is on foreign travel in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (EST + 9 hours). Assistant Secretary Feltman and Ambassador Melanne Verveer accompany the Secretary. Click here for more information.
11:00 a.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton participates in a townterview co-hosted by Middle East Broadcasting Company’s Kalam Nawaem, at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
(POOLED PRESS COVERAGE)
1:30 p.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton meets with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
(POOLED PRESS COVERAGE)
3:20 p.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton meets with the staff and families of Embassy Abu Dhabi, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
(POOLED PRESS COVERAGE)
4:15 p.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton visits Masdar City and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
(POOLED PRESS COVERAGE)
6:00 p.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton holds a bilateral meeting with Emirati Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
(POOLED CAMERA SPRAY)
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Secretary Clinton's Remarks En Route Abu Dhabi
Secretary Clinton briefed her traveling press on the way to Abu Dhabi today.
Remarks En Route Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Traveling Press
Er Route Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
January 9, 2011SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, this trip is, in many ways, an important follow-up to one directly related trip and another that is equally significant but less direct. The first, of course, was a trip to Bahrain and the speech that I gave at Manama outlining our security agenda, and the countries I am visiting are all very strong partners in our security efforts, on counterterrorism, on the ongoing challenges posed by Iran, on dealing with the difficulties that we are working through as Iraq emerges into a sovereign, independent country, and so much else.
At the same time, I gave a speech in Krakow last summer in which I talked about the importance of countries including civil societies, respecting human rights, involving women, empowering their citizens, and we have been very focused on building a system following up on that speech and making clear that civil society in every country needs to be part of our engagement as well as more involved by their governments.
So in countries that I’m visiting I will be obviously meeting with leaders to continue the security dialogues that we are engaged in to talk through some of the challenges we face, but also reaching out very publicly to civil society and a lot of the activists and the NGOs that have been on the front lines working for change and a particular emphasis – it will not surprise you – on women and girls. So we’ll be working in every one of the countries on that kind of dual track.
I’ll be happy to answer your questions. I can’t talk about one of the countries except off the record and embargo for security reasons. So we can have some questions on the record, but then we should go off the record and talk further. Okay?
QUESTION: Can I ask about Iran? Two questions.
QUESTION: Oh, sorry. That’s the country. We can’t talk about that. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: You’ve already had one trip where you went to deal with fallout from WikiLeaks. You are visiting a couple of places where the leaders were quoted saying some very strong things about Iran. Do you expect you will have to do any further explanation, damage control, et cetera? That’s the first question.
The second question is: In light of what the outgoing Israeli intelligence chief said about potential slow-downs in the development of Iran’s nuclear program, is that going to be a theme? And do you feel – on some level feel that maybe the pressure has eased a tiny bit in terms of fears about Iran?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, on the first question, Mark, I think I will be answering concerns about WikiLeaks until the end of my life, not just the end of my tenure as Secretary of State. I’ve told my team that I want to get one of those really sharp looking jackets that rock-and-roll groups have on tours. And I could have a big picture of the world, and it could say “The Apology Tour,” because I have been very, very much involved in reaching out to leaders and others who have concerns about either the general message of our confidential communications being exposed in this way or specific questions about their country or themselves.
It – that aspect of it has receded a lot. I’ve done an enormous amount of work, as have other members of our government, but it still is in the atmosphere. So I think it is always better to affirmatively raise it, set forth the concerns that we know our friends have. And as you pointed out in an article you wrote a few days ago, there are some specific very serious issues that we are going to be dealing with over the months ahead.
Now, regarding the assessments, the public assessments by the retiring head of the Israeli intelligence agency and other assessments that were publicly discussed by members of the Israeli Government or Knesset, those assessments are ones that they’ve made based on their own analysis. But we obviously – not just the United States, but many of our international partners – have an ongoing, intense, robust discussion about Iran, about Iran’s actions, Iran’s intentions, and it’s especially important to be engaged in that because information comes to life that impacts our analysis and the conclusions we draw from it.
The timeline is not so important as the international effort to try to ensure that, whatever the timeline, Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons. I don’t know that it gives much comfort to somebody who is in the Gulf or is in a country that Iran has vowed to destroy that it’s a one-year or three-year timeframe. So I think we should keep the focus where it belongs – on the intensive international effort certainly highlighted by the sanctions, which we believe have had a very significant impact.
The upcoming P-5+1 meeting in Istanbul where we have all who are participating made it clear to the Iranians that the address for nuclear inspections is the IAEA, not individual countries, and that the forum for discussing this and other issues with the international community is the P-5+1.
QUESTION: Are you –
QUESTION: (Inaudible) with Iran. So how do you (inaudible) that wanting them to be very strict on sanctions, but it seems like they have to deal with Iran as a neighbor and (inaudible).
QUESTION: And tied to that, are you worried that – when the Israeli assessment comes out, I can see some of these folks saying, “Hey, well, this bomb won’t come around for five or six years. (Inaudible) to keep the pressure on (inaudible).”
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first to both Jill and Jay, I think the point is that these countries that have significant economic relations with Iran have been very responsive up to now. We do keep the pressure on all the time because the Iranians are always looking for way out of the impact of the sanctions. They’re always trying to figure out, “Well, if this bank shut us down, what bank can we do business with?” So we have had a consistent message to our friends in the Gulf that there is no part of the world that has more at stake than trying to deter Iran from becoming the creator and possessor of nuclear weapons than you.
So on the balance sheet, we’ve seen a lot of positive actions, but it will certainly be an issue that I will raise in all the countries that I visit because we want to keep that pressure on. And to go to Jay’s point, we don’t want anyone to be misled by anyone’s intelligence analysis. This remains a serious concern, and we expect all of our partners who share that concern, as these countries certainly do, to stay as focused as they can and to do everything within reason that will help to implement these sanctions. And I think that the balance is that they have done a lot, some more than others, and there is always more to do, but they are certainly very serious about trying to achieve the objective that the sanctions is pointed in.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: I had a – what I thought of us a substantive and reassuring meeting with Prime Minister Hariri. I was impressed by his resolve and his understanding of the very difficult situation in which his country finds itself. We obviously, as you know, have been constant in our commitment to the tribunal and to the fundamental principle that Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence must be respected, and that is why we’re working hard with Saudi Arabia, France, and Egypt to form a strong foundation of support for Lebanon and, in particular, Prime Minister Hariri. So I thought it was a very positive discussion.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Continuing support which we are going to provide.
QUESTION: On the Middle East, in the absence of direct talks, Palestinians are taking their case to the UN and they’re going to ask (inaudible) resolution (inaudible). And I wonder what message you’re telling both Arab leaders about that and when you’re expecting (inaudible).
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Michelle, we continue to believe strongly that New York is not the place to resolve the long-standing conflict and outstanding issues between the Israelis and the Palestinians. We do not think that that is a productive path for the Palestinians or anyone to pursue. The Palestinians are aware of our position as are everyone else. But we also believe that a concerted effort to enable the parties to return to negotiations that will permit them to make progress together is in everyone’s interests. So we are tireless in our efforts to try to bring that about.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) how happy are you with the Gulf countries’ attitude toward the new Iraqi Government?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I think it’s improving, and I would like to see more improvements, and I will certainly raise that with the leaders I speak with. I would like to see every country open an embassy. I’d like to see normal relations. I’d like to see the leaders of Iraq invited and consulted. I hope that when I’m in Doha we’ll have a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and that will be one of the issues on the agenda as far as I’m concerned. So it’s slowly, but I think positively making progress. So let me go off the record. Is that all right with everybody?
# # #
She also released the following statement on the demolition of the Shepherd's Hotel in East Jerusalem.
Demolition of the Shepherd's Hotel
Press Statement
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 9, 2011We are very concerned about the initiation of demolition of the Shepherd's Hotel in East Jerusalem. This disturbing development undermines peace efforts to achieve the two state-solution. In particular, this move contradicts the logic of a reasonable and necessary agreement between the parties on the status of Jerusalem. We believe that through good faith negotiations, the parties should mutually agree on an outcome that realizes the aspirations of both parties for Jerusalem, and safeguards its status for people around the world. Ultimately, the lack of a resolution to this conflict harms Israel, harms the Palestinians, and harms the U.S. and the international community. We will continue to press ahead with the parties to resolve the core issues, including Jerusalem, in the context of a peace agreement.
Secretary Clinton's Statements on the Start of Polling for the Southern Sudan Referendum
Southern Sudan Referendum
Press StatementHillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of StateWashington, DCJanuary 9, 2011
The successful start of voting for the Southern Sudan Referendum represents a historic step towards implementation of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
The people of Sudan deserve a process that is credible, peaceful and that ultimately reflects their will. Significant progress has been made in recent months towards preparing for the referendum, including the successful completion of voter registration and other technical arrangements. Going forward, the work of the many domestic and international observation and monitoring groups will be crucial and we look forward to their assessment.
We welcome the leadership shown by both parties to the CPA, including the commitment by President Bashir that his government will respect the outcome of the referendum. We also appreciate the parties’ acknowledgment of the importance of continued cooperation regardless of the outcome. This spirit will be important as the parties negotiate the post-referendum arrangements that will define their future relationship.
The United States is committed to the long-term security and prosperity of both north and south Sudan and we will continue to support the Sudanese people. We welcome the ongoing engagement of the international community as Sudan moves forward and we salute the strong leadership by the United Nations Mission in Sudan. We will work closely with all our international partners to maintain strong international support for the referendum process, successful implementation of the CPA, and a peaceful and prosperous future for all of the Sudanese people.
In addition, the Secretary issued a joint statement with the Norwegian Foreign Minister and the UK Foreign Secretary.
Joint Statement on the Start of Polling for the Southern Sudan Referendum
Media NoteOffice of the SpokesmanWashington, DCJanuary 9, 2011Following is the text of a joint statement by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Støre, and United Kingdom Foreign Secretary William Hague on the start of polling for the Southern Sudan referendum.
Begin Text:
We welcome the start of polling today for the Southern Sudan Referendum. This represents a historic step towards completion of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement. We recognise the significant progress which has been made in recent weeks towards preparing for the referendum, including the successful completion of voter registration and other technical arrangements. We welcome the preliminary reports of the UN Secretary General’s Panel on the Referenda in Sudan, Carter Center, European Union, and other international and domestic observation missions, which stated that arrangements are now in place that provide a firm foundation for a credible referendum to take place.
We call for all efforts to ensure peaceful and credible completion of the referendum process in a manner which reflects the will of the people of South Sudan. The Southern Sudan Referendum Commission and Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau have made enormous efforts under significant pressure and deserve to be commended for their work. We welcome the leadership shown by both Sudanese parties. President Bashir has made clear that his Government will respect the outcome of the Referendum. We welcome this commitment.
We are encouraged by the strong public commitments of both Presidents Bashir and Kiir to continue negotiations on post-referendum issues and to foster cooperation between the North and South regardless of the referendum result. We welcome these commitments as well as their pledge that the safety and security of all peoples in Sudan will be protected throughout this process. It is vital that these commitments are upheld.
The situation in Abyei remains of deep concern. We commend the people of Abyei for their patience in recent months. The outstanding issues must be resolved in a calm and measured manner and we emphasise again to both parties their responsibilities to urgently resolve the impasse. Clear communication is also vital to reassure the communities on the ground that their concerns will be addressed and underscore that the parties will reconvene negotiations at the earliest possible date. It is also of great importance that popular consultations in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan states are conducted expeditiously and inclusively.
The work of the many domestic and international observation and monitoring groups is crucial. We welcome their continuing engagement. We also welcome the strong leadership by the United Nations Mission in Sudan. We will work closely with all international partners to maintain strong international support for the referendum process, and successful completion of the CPA.
Haiti: One Year Later
Conversations with America - Haiti in 2011: The Way Forward
Media NoteOffice of the SpokesmanWashington, DCJanuary 7, 2011Haiti Special Coordinator Thomas Adams and President and CEO of InterAction Sam Worthington will discuss the continued U.S. support to the Haitian Government and people in response to the January 2010 earthquake and the way forward in the coming year on Monday, January 10, 2011 at 10:30 am (EST).
This discussion, moderated by Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley, will be streamed live on DipNote, the Department of State’s official blog. Members of the general public will have the opportunity to participate through the submission of questions, some of which will be selected for response during the live broadcast.
This is the eighth in the Conversations with America video series coordinated by the Bureau of Public Affairs, in which the State Department's senior leadership hold monthly conversations live, online, with leaders of prominent non-governmental organizations. Discussion topics include foreign policy and global issues, and provide a candid view of how leaders from civil society engage the Department on pressing foreign policy issues.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Secretary Clinton and Escort Meet Saudi King Abdullah and Lebanese PM Hariri
Here is the article Rachel shared.
Clintons congratulate king
Here is another that I found.
Clinton meets Lebanon PM, Saudi king in New York
Thank you, Lilly and Rachel!