Latortue Leads Delegation Urgently Seeking Cash Aid

WASHINGTON - Haiti's interim prime minister, Gerard Latortue, on Monday said he's banking on the generosity of the international community for $924 million the nation needs to push it toward recovery.

That is the amount needed to reach the $1.3 billion that experts say Haiti requires over the next two years to bounce back from years of fiscal mismanagement and political upheaval.

Latortue and dozens of top Haitian government and private sector officials are in Washington for a two-day international donors conference that ends today at World Bank headquarters.

Their challenge is to convince over-extended donors that the millions of dollars they're being asked to give will be well spent.

''I expect we'll get close to everything we asked for,'' Latortue told reporters during a private briefing Monday while Haitian officials laid out the case for aid. Haiti has struggled with political and socioeconomic crises and allegations of corruption that emerged during the tenure of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide fled Haiti on Feb. 29 as armed rebels closed in on Port-au-Prince, the capital.

A recent needs assessment conducted jointly by Haitian officials and international development organizations concluded that Haiti will need $1.3 billion to provide basic services, establish security, hold elections and improve its failed economy, among other projects.

Haiti's interim government has said it has already received $440 million.

The United States, which sent troops to stabilize Haiti after Aristide's ouster, has already given millions of dollars in aid and has urged other countries to do their part.

In his briefing to reporters, Latortue previewed his message to world bodies that are increasingly wary about freely giving out money.

He said that four months after Aristide's departure, Haiti is a different country. Political protests, garbage in the streets, little or no electricity, school closures caused by unrest, and many other socioeconomic ailments are in the past, though problems remain, he said.

''Today, if you go to Haiti you will see this is totally different,'' Latortue said.

He said the government meets monthly with political parties.

''We have also established the Electoral Council,'' he said. ``All nine members are on board and they are working on the preparation of the electoral law and providing also the calendar for the elections.''

Security in Haiti remains a problem, Latortue said.

''We still have armed gangs in a couple of areas in the country, and that needs to be examined,'' Latortue said. ``The present police force that we have does not have either the training or the equipment to disarm gangs.''

Latortue said the gangs have been given a deadline of Sept. 15 to disarm.