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G7 nations to cancel Haiti debts

Bill Clinton - Wants to speed up pace of aid
Bill Clinton - Wants to speed up pace of aid

The world's seven most industrialised nations - the G7 - have said they will each cancel their country's bilateral debt with Haiti.

It comes after the former US President Bill Clinton apologised to the Haitian people for the slow pace of aid distribution.

He made the apology to protestors following a meeting with the Haitian Prime Minister in Port-au-Prince.

Mr Clinton was appointed by the United Nations to co-ordinate international aid in the country following last month's earthquake.

Earlier, he urged the US and Haitian governments to resolve the case of 10 American missionaries accused of trying to take children illegally out of quake-hit Haiti.

The accused US missionaries, most of whom belong to an Idaho-based Baptist church, were arrested a week ago and charged on Thursday with child kidnapping and criminal association.

Haitian authorities say the group tried to take a busload of 33 Haitian children across the border into the Dominican Republic without any papers proving the minors were orphans or any official permission to take them out of the country.

The missionaries deny any intentional wrongdoing and say they were only trying to help children left destitute by the earthquake, which killed more than 200,000 people, injured some 300,000 and left over a million more homeless.

The Americans' case is diplomatically sensitive and aid groups complain it has distracted media and world attention away from the struggle to feed and shelter hundreds of thousands of Haitians camped out in wrecked streets.

'What's important now is for the government of Haiti and the government of the United States to get together and work through this,' Mr Clinton told CNN in Port-au-Prince.

He said he understood the Haitian government's efforts to try to protect its children from possible child traffickers and unlawful adoptions following the catastrophic quake.

But he also said the missionaries could be telling the truth when they argued they simply wanted to help the children and did not mean to violate any laws. Evidence has emerged that many of the intercepted children were not orphans but were given up by parents who wanted them to have a better life.

'I think they'll find a way to defuse the crisis and work through this,' Clinton said, adding that the case was not his direct responsibility.

The missionaries, five men and five women, were questioned individually on Friday by the investigating judge at the offices of the prosecutor in the city.

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

The US government, which is spearheading the big relief operation in Haiti, has said it is providing the Americans with consular access and monitoring their case, but it has made clear it does not want to interfere.

Haitian President Rene Preval's crippled administration, which has been accused by many of its citizens of failing to do enough to help quake survivors, has defended its decision to detain and charge the Americans.