Obama pledges ongoing support

WASHINGTON – President Obama pledged to stand by Haiti as it recovers from its devastating earthquake, assuring the stricken nation’s leader Wednesday that the United States will not turn its back on neighbors in time of need.

The situation on the ground “remains dire,” Obama said after a meeting with President Rene Preval, noting that many Haitians are still in desperate need of shelter, food and medicine as the spring rainy season approaches.

“That’s why, even as the U.S. military responsibly hands off relief functions to our Haitian and international partners, America’s commitment to Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction must endure and will endure,” Obama said.

Preval in turn thanked Obama and the American people “not only for the material aid, but also for the moral support, the psychological support.”

Preval is visiting Washington this week in an appeal for continuing support from the United States and elsewhere. Haitians are only beginning to dig their way out from the devastation of the earthquake nearly two months ago, which killed more than 200,000 people and crumbled the country’s infrastructure, both physical and governmental.

Preval is meeting with administration officials and lawmakers in search of support for reconstruction. But while U.S. officials offer sympathy and pledge continuing commitment, Haitians are interested in more specific talks about how international aid will be administered.