Wyclef Jean Becomes Haiti Ambassador

The Haitian musician Wyclef Jean has been appointed as a roving ambassador for the country in an attempt to improve its image abroad. The appointment comes amid reports of violence and protests against the role of UN forces in Haiti.

President Réne Préval, who won office last year after many postponed elections, has given Jean the new role in an attempt to bring investors and tourists back to a country ravaged by internal violence and civil disturbance.

"We wish we could have several Wyclefs as roving ambassadors because the country could have gained so much," foreign affairs minister Rénald Clérismé told Reuters. He added that Jean was seen as an inspiration for young Haitians.

Jean was born in Croix-des-Bouquets in Haiti but moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York, at the age of nine. He and friends formed a group, the Fugees, whose second album, The Score, sold more than 17m copies and turned Jean into a major international star. He has always maintained links with Haiti, starting an aid foundation, Yele Haiti, and often wearing the country's flag. He has campaigned successfully for the US Congress to pass a trade bill aimed at helping the textile industry in Haiti, the poorest country in the hemisphere. He has even been talked of as a potential president.

Last month supporters of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who remains in exile in South Africa, marched through Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, in his support and in protest against the UN peacekeeping forces who have been accused of firing indiscriminately in disturbances.