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Clinton says Bangladeshis not fated to be poor

DHAKA: US President Bill Clinton could not go to their village because of security worries, so Bangladeshi villagers came to him on Monday, hearing Clinton promise support to overcome bitter poverty in one of the world's poorest nations.

"Many of you have overcome great obstacles in your lives. Many of you still face great challenges. But you've convinced me again that no one, no one, should believe that poverty is destiny, that people have to remain poor," Clinton told them.

On a week-long tour of South Asia, Clinton became the first U.S. president ever to visit Bangladesh, a crowded country of 128 million on the Bay of Bengal that is constantly raked by deadly monsoons. The average annual income is $354 less than $1 a day.

Clinton announced $97 million in food assistance, which U.S. officials said would directly benefit five million people. He also announced $84 million in clean energy initiatives for Bangladesh, India and Nepal to encourage regional economic cooperation and promote use of clean fuels to fight pollution.

Bangladesh is rich in natural gas. Prime Minister Sheikhh Hasina said she told Clinton that Bangladesh wanted to make sure it has a 50-year supply for its own needs but was open to exporting any surplus.

Clinton extended $8.6 million to reduce abusive child labour by removing about 30,000 children from hazardous industries in Bangladesh like the shrimp, construction and leather industries -- and putting them in school.

SOME US HELP FOR TIGERS

He also announced a "debt for nature" swap. The United States will forgive $6 million in Bangladesh's external debt to free up money for use to preserve some of the three million acres (1.2 million hectares) of tropical forests that dominate the country and provide a home to 400 Bengal tigers.

Much of the aid was to have been announced in the rural village of Joypura, where Clinton had wanted to go by helicopter to spotlight attempts to raise family incomes and improve the education and health of the children.

But in an unusual development, the Secret Service cited security concerns about the president's 20-mile (35 km) helicopter ride over dense, tropical forest.

Explaining the decision to cancel, White House National Security Adviser Sandy Berger said: "We had specific information which led us to conclude that travel to the village was inadvisable."

So many of the villagers were loaded up in vehicles and driven to the U.S. embassy in Dhaka to see the president. Most were women, and many were barefoot, dressed in traditional colourful dresses.

Thirty-two children, aged 10 to 12, showed off their school materials to the smiling president and sang a song in which each child named a different country.

Chatting with villagers as he sat on a wicker stool, Clinton said he admired the people of Bangladesh for overcoming obstacles and pledged the United States would do more to help them.

"I think you have too much hardship, and I think you are very brave, and so many of you have to deal with so many challenges," he said.

BANGLADESH AIMS TO ABOLISH POVERTY

Playing host to Clinton was Sheikh Hasina, who said that after all the hardships her country has faced, "We would like to live a life of dignity."

She said two of Bangladesh's big goals are to be a developed country by 2020 and make sure everyone has a home. She accepted an invitation to meet Clinton in Washington in October.

Hasina called on Clinton during their private meeting to expedite the deportation of the accused killers of the Bangladeshi independence leader and the prime minister's father, Bangabandhu Sheikhh Mujibur Rahman.

A Bangladeshi court sentenced 15 people, most of the former military officers now living abroad, to death for the 1975 assasination of Rahman. Dhaka has regularly asked friendly governments to help deport them to Bangladesh, including three living in the United States.

"We stressed that the killers have terrorist links and that they should not be given refuge in the greatest democracy of the world, a country that upholds the rule of law," she told a joint news conference with Clinton.

Berger said Clinton told Hasina that the cases were pending in the U.S. legal system and suggested the United States and Bangladesh negotiate an extradition treaty to speed up such matters.

Police held back hundreds of left-wing students in Dhaka University protesting against Clinton's visit.

"Go back Clinton, you are an imperialist," chanted the protesters who made a futile attempt to get out of the campus and demonstrate on the streets.

After an evening state dinner, Clinton was heading back to India to resume his five-city tour there. He is to visit Pakistan on Saturday.-Reuters