Wyclef runs for president

 NEW YORK, CMC:

Internationally-acclaimed pop star, Wyclef Jean, announced yesterday his candidacy to contest the presidential elections in Haiti later this year.

"If not for the earthquake, I probably would have waited another 10 years before doing this," the Haitian-born superstar told reporters, adding "the quake drove home to me that Haiti can't wait another 10 years for us to bring it into the 21st century".

The January 12 earthquake killed more than 300,000 people and left more than one million others homeless. It also destroyed a number of buildings in the French-speaking Caribbean-Community country.

Jean, 37, who had been in the forefront of relief efforts, said he was convinced that now is the best time for him to seek to become president of one of the poorest countries in the world.

"If I can't take five years out to serve my country as president, then everything I've been singing about, like equal rights, doesn't mean anything," said the popular hip-hop artist, who was raised in Brooklyn, New York.

Ambassador-at-Large

Jean shot to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of The Fugees, a US-based hip-hop and reggae group. But he now performs as a solo artist.

In 2007, President Rene Preval, who is prohibited by Haiti's constitution from seeking a third consecutive term, named Jean a Haitian ambassador-at-large.

Jean had supported Preval in his 2006 re-election bid.