UN to convene emergency summit in Canada

The United Nations is to convene an emergency summit in Montreal, Canada, today to coordinate aid for Haiti following the January 12 earthquake.



The UN said delegates from over 20 countries are expected to attend the summit, which will discuss long-term reconstruction and arrangements for a donor conference on Haiti to be held in March.



Countries expected to attend the “Friends of Haiti” summit in Montreal include the United States, Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, France and Japan.



Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia have said they will boycott the meeting to protest the US military presence in Haiti.



The UN said more than 111,000 people have been confirmed dead in the earthquake and 609,000 are without shelter in the capital, Port-au-Prince.



However, a Haiti Government Minister is contradicting that report.



Communications Minister, Marie-Laurence Jocelyn Lassegue, said the confirmed death toll has risen above 150,000 in the Port-au-Prince area alone.