ARTICLE - C. MILLS - AMB. MERTEN MEETING

CHERYL MILLS AND AMBASSADOR MERTEN MET WITH SENATORS
(Haiti Libre) -

On Thursday, March 1, Cheryl Mills, Chief of Staff and Special Envoy of the Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton, and Kenneth H. Merten Ambassador of the United States accredited to Haiti, visited the Haitian parliament. Following this visit, the U.S. ambassador declared, "we met with several senators to discuss bilateral relations [...] We have not talked about the resigned Prime Minister. We talked a bit about the investigation into the nationality of the President. Ms. Mills explained to the Senators that in the United States, we have no right to share private information regardless of the person, without the permission of that person [...] We want to do many things with the Haitian people,... without government it will be much more difficult... We would like to have an interlocutor to help people, so that the country can move forward and be able to attract investors and provide jobs for the people [...] we would like there to be a government as quickly as possible [...]

We talked about the Prime Minister that will be appointed today and I am confident that the Senate and the rest of Parliament will deal with this issue [...] The question of the presence of armed persons on the territory, ..... I do not know if it's the army or not, [...] but we believe that the policy is that the police is the only group that should be armed on Haitian soil. We have always supported the Haitian police and we will continue to do it. I think it is the role of the Haitian government to control these groups and ensure they comply with Haitian law [...]"

For his part, the President of the Senate, Senator Simon Dieuseul Desras, has summarized this visit "...the Special Envoy of Ms. Clinton, Cheryl Mills in her trip to Haiti, paid us a visit in Parliament. She first met the President of the Chamber of Deputies, with me, then several President of commissions, and some members of the Bureau of Senate, to share with us her concerns on the issue of governance in Haiti, .... of stability, .... and how Parliament could continue to work with all countries that support democracy [...] She told us once again, that the United States, with Haiti shares the same democratic values, and how we can always have the same cooperation, ..... but, while respecting the rules of the game... by respecting democratic values. That's what she came to tell us [...] She also shared her concerns about the delayed elections, the issue of the amendment of the Constitution, and on the continuity of the democratic process in Haiti [...]"