HAITI: Fanmi Lavalas Banned, Voter Apprehension Widespread

Weekend senatorial elections in Haiti are mired in controversy as Fanmi Lavalas (FL), the political party widely backed by the poor majority, has been disqualified.

HAITI: Donors Pledge 324 Million Dollars to Rebuild After Storms

International donors have pledged 324 million dollars over the next two years in additional aid to help Haiti recover from food riots and damage to roads and other key infrastructure caused by four hurricanes that ravaged Latin America's poorest nation last summer.

HAITI-DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Solace in Solidarity

On a rainy Saturday evening, beneath the leaking tin roof of an empty carport in a working class section of Santo Domingo, a group of Haitian immigrants met to form a neighbours' association.

HAITI: Stability May Rest in Donors’ Pockets

A series of crises in 2008 have pushed more Haitians into poverty and increased the potential for serious instability in the Caribbean nation of nearly 9 million, said the latest update briefing from the International Crisis Group (ICG).

HAITI: New Peasant Alliance Demands Action on Food Crisis

Haiti's peasant farmers are organising and taking action to try and bring an end to the country's dependence on food imports, and to avert the prospect of looming famine.

Q&A: Urgent Seeds for Haiti

The participation of the most vulnerable people is essential for Haiti's development programmes, says Kanayo Nwanze, vice president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which this year earmarked 10.2 million dollars for aid to help the poorest country of the Americas survive the current food crisis.

HAITI-DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Media Unites to Fight Stereotypes

The contrast between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the island of Hispaniola, is nowhere so stark as on its common border.

ENVIRONMENT: Haiti Can’t Face More Defeats

The worst natural disaster that Haiti has suffered requires far-reaching solutions in order to reduce this Caribbean country's environmental fragility, say officials and humanitarian workers.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Prejudice Against Haitians Boils Over – Again

"A group of Dominicans armed with pistols, machetes and knives came to take revenge on us. I broke my leg trying to escape from my house, which was on fire. It's not fair that all Haitians should have to pay for the crime of one," Elena Piti, a Haitian mother of seven who lives in the Dominican Republic, told IPS.

HAITI: Activists Urge World Bank to Erase Crippling Debt

On a recent visit to the hurricane-ravaged island of Haiti, World Bank President Robert Zoellick declared that 500 million dollars of Haiti's 1.7-billion-dollar foreign debt had been cancelled, and the rest would be soon be written off as well.

Q&A: "Haiti Is Going From Catastrophe to Catastrophe"

Peasant leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste has been at the forefront of the struggles of Haiti's peasants for over 35 years. Born in the village of Papay in Haiti's Plateau Central, Jean-Baptiste helped found the Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP) peasant union as well as the Mouvman Peyizan Nasyonal Kongre Papay (MPNKP), the latter a 200,000-member national congress of peasant farmers and activists.

HAITI: Kidnappings Rise as Economic Woes Deepen

Several thousand people, including remnants of the wealthy and educated class who remain in Haiti, took to the streets of Port-au-Prince Wednesday to rail against what they say is government inaction amid a rise in kidnappings.

HAITI: Food Crisis Sparks Anger and Despair

A green, red and yellow-striped umbrella is all that keeps Hernite Joseph from the searing sun as she takes apart a frozen chicken with a screwdriver and places the small pieces into neat piles stacked three high.

POLITICS: U.N. Jolted by Attacks on Peacekeepers in Haiti

The United Nations may be heading for trouble in Haiti, where a demonstration against rising food prices turned into an attack against U.N. peacekeepers and the local offices of the world body.

HAITI: Once-Vibrant Farming Sector in Dire Straits

Student activists in Haiti are calling for an overhaul of the nation's agriculture policies, which they say have resulted in Haiti importing more than half of its food while local farmers are mired in poverty.

HAITI/DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Tensions Grow Over Poultry Ban

In a display of national sovereignty, Haiti is continuing an embargo against the importation of all poultry products from the Dominican Republic, prompting some Dominicans to boycott border markets in northwest Dajabon province.

HAITI-DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: One Market, Two Separate Worlds

At 11 a.m., five hours after the start of the market day on the southern border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the driver of the bright red Haitian truck named "God of Justice" swung down the back gate and started unloading the full load of 60-kg burlap bags of coffee.

EUROPE/HAITI: Singing for the Poor

The Arcade Fire, a rock band based in Quebec in Canada, has made raising awareness and money for Haiti's most disadvantaged its top priority.

HAITI: After the Deluge, Residents Turn to Each Other

Cars crossing Gonaives Avenue shoot plumes of murky water from their rears. Men on motorcycles stick to the shoulder of the road, dodging large puddles. As the flooding in this coastal city begins to slowly recede, residents are starting to assess the measure of destruction.

HAITI: Workers Protest Privatisation Layoffs

Late last month, President René Préval announced that Haiti's public telephone company, Téléco, would be privatised. Meeting recently with the Haitian Chamber of Commerce and Senator Jean Hector Anacacis of Preval's Lespwa political party, the president finalised plans to sell off the aging enterprise.

HAITI: A Land Crumbling Beneath Their Feet

Dardy Saint-Jean gazes at the rock-strewn river coursing through his village and shakes his head in disgust.