Clinton urges speed in Haiti case

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Americas

Saturday, 06 February 2010 11:14

By Agencies

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Bill Clinton, the former US president, has urged Haiti and the US to move quickly to find a resolution in the case of 10 US citizens accused of trying to smuggle 33 children out of Haiti after the country's devastating earthquake.

The 10 Baptist missionaries were sent to jail on Friday to await trial on charges of child abduction and criminal conspiracy.

The five women and five men have said that the children were orphans or had been abandoned by their parents and were being taken to a refuge in the neighbouring Dominican Republic.

The group were detained at the border when they were found not to have the proper documentation to take the children out of the country, Haitian authorities have said.

There were widespread fears that child traffickers would take advantage of the chaos in Haiti following the quake to pick up youngsters and sell them abroad.

'Protecting children'

Clinton stressed that he was not in Haiti to intervene in the case, but he expressed his hopes that Washington and Port-au-Prince would work together to resolve the situation.

"I think what's important now is that the government of Haiti and the government of the United States to get together and go through this because the government of Haiti, as I understand it, is not looking for a fight," he said.

"They just want to protect children," he said.

"I know that the [US] state department and government have had these discussions," he said.

His remarks came after his wife, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, said that the US ambassador to Haiti was keeping in touch with Haitian officials over the case.

"Obviously, this is a matter for the Haitian judicial system," she said.

The missionaries, from an Idaho-based Baptist church, were questioned individually on Friday by Bernard Sainvil, the investigating judge, at the offices of the prosecutor in the city.

Officials said the judge would continue his investigation on Monday and Tuesday, before making a decision on whether to release the 10 or proceed with the case against them.

Haiti 'still has laws'

The administration of Rene Preval, the Haitian president, has defended its decision to detain and charge the Americans.

"It is true the country has been brought to its knees by the earthquake, but we still have laws," Paul Denis, the justice minister, said.

"In any case, whoever violates the law has to be sanctioned, whether the violator is a US or European citizen, or someone else."

Preval met Clinton on Friday, but the former US president said that the meeting focused on his mission to help the relief and rebuilding effort in the country after more than 200,000 people were killed and one million made homeless.

During his visit to Port-au-Prince, he apologised for delays in getting aid to the survivors.

"I'm sorry it's taken this long," Clinton said. "I'm trying to get to what the bottlenecks are, part of it is just shipping the volume of food in here that is necessary."

In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, rescue operators struggled to get aid out to earthquake victims and many aid groups called for greater co-ordination.