By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- A five-member bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation is scheduled to visit Haiti April 23 to discuss ways to restore security and to strengthen the economy of the conflict-ridden country.

The delegation, led by Rep. Mark Foley (Republican of Florida), plans to meet with Haiti's President Boniface Alexandre, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and others. The U.S. delegation also includes Republicans Cass Ballenger of North Carolina and Jeff Miller of Florida, and Democrats Kendrick Meek of Florida and Elijah Cummings of Maryland.

Following former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's resignation from office February 29, Foley called for a multinational peacekeeping force to be dispatched to Haiti to quell political violence and restore order in the embattled nation. Since then, the United States has been leading a U.N.-authorized interim multinational force in Haiti, which also includes troops from Canada, France and Chile. The multinational troop contingent is preparing the way for a follow-on force from the United Nations to go to Haiti to continue peacekeeping activities.

In that regard, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed sending U.N. military and police forces to Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, beginning in the latter half of May, as the vanguard of an 8,300-strong U.N. stabilization mission that will take over from the U.S.-led multilateral interim force June 1.

Annan said April 20 that the U.N. stabilization mission would consist of 6,700 troops, 1,600 civilian police and additional international and local civilian staff, and have an initial mandate of 24 months.

Meanwhile, participants at a donors' meeting for Haiti, scheduled for April 22 in Port-au-Prince, will take stock of Haiti's needs and begin to make preliminary decisions on how to help the country. A follow-up donors' meeting for Haiti is scheduled to take place several months after the April 22 event.

For his part, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, during his April 5 visit to Haiti, announced an additional $9 million in U.S. aid for elections and democracy-building in support of the activities of a special mission in Haiti created by the Organization of American States. The special mission was formed in April 2002 to strengthen democracy in that Caribbean nation. The United States also recently contributed $4.9 million to support the work of the OAS mission.

In addition, the United States plans to fund a three-year jobs program for Haiti that will provide tens of thousands of jobs to improve municipal infrastructure and promote employment opportunities in the cities of Port-au-Prince, Cap Haitien, Gonaives, and other locations, as needed.