Haiti: UN Special Adviser and assessment mission chief meet officials

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Adviser on Haiti and the head of the UN assessment mission today continued their round of meetings to gather information on the situation in the Caribbean country after the departure of one president and the swearing-in of a new interim president, prime minister and cabinet.

Special Adviser Reginald Dumas and the head of the assessment mission, Hocine Medili, sat in on a meeting in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, between new Prime Minister Gerard Latortue and the heads of all UN agencies in the country, UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told journalists in New York.

Mr. Medili then met representatives of Haitian women's organizations to discuss such topics as peace-building and gender-based violence, he said.

Mr. Dumas, who was due back at the UN next week, met yesterday with the Chief of the Organization of American States (OAS) mission in Port-au-Prince, David Lee, to assess the potential for cooperation between the two bodies in stabilizing the situation, Mr. Eckhard said.

The assessment mission was scheduled to make one of its many forays outside of the capital tomorrow. It has been looking at security and ease of transport.