Clinton meets with presidential hopefuls

Port-Au-Prince (CMC):

Former United States president Bill Clinton yesterday talked with the two front runners for the March 20 presidential elections.

Clinton, who is making a one-day visit to the earthquake battered country is reported to have discussed the plans of the two candidates for the reconstruction of the poorest nation in the hemisphere that was hit by the powerful 7.0 earthquake on January 12 last year, killing an estimated 300,000 people and leaving more than a million others homeless.

The meeting with the former first lady Mirlande Manigat and the popular musician Michael Martelly was held behind closed doors.

Clinton, the special United Nations envoy to Haiti, also co-chairs the Interim Haiti Recon-struction Commission.

Cholera still present

Meanwhile, the cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 4,000 people since October 2010 has not been suppressed despite billions of dollars in promised aid, according to a report by Haitian and US researchers.

The report says more than a third of people made homeless by the earthquake still do not have access to clean water, and a quarter still do not have a toilet. The study also says the epidemic has not yet peaked.