PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived
                  Saturday on the last leg of a six-nation tour of hurricane-ravaged nations,
                  promising more storm relief for the Western Hemisphere's poorest and
                  sickest people.

                  "Why is she coming? What's she bringing us?" student Nadezh Beaupin, 18,
                  asked, among scattered groups that gawked at the 20-vehicle motorcade
                  from the airport. There was no applause.

                  Like many Haitians, she has lost the hope for a better life that energized the
                  Caribbean nation after President Clinton sent troops to topple a brutal
                  military regime and restore democracy in 1994.

                  Four years later, Haiti is paralyzed by a political power struggle that many
                  fear augurs a return to dictatorship.

                  Mrs. Clinton met for an hour at the National Palace with President Rene
                  Preval and his wife, Gerda, much longer than the scheduled 15 minutes. At a
                  later reception at the U.S. ambassador's residence she alluded to the
                  political stalemate that has left Haiti without a workable government for 18
                  months.

                  "Bridges are my husband's favorite metaphor," she said, adding that "he has
                  continued to persevere" in spite of opposition to some of his bridge-building.
                  The U.S. Congress, and especially Republicans, had strongly objected to
                  Clinton's sending 20,000 troops to Haiti, and some now say that what was
                  touted as a great foreign policy success is a failure.

                  "You face new challenges to strengthen the principles of democracy and rule
                  of law," Clinton urged Haitians.

                  Haiti is handicapped by "crushing poverty, high illiteracy, inadequate health
                  care, a high incidence of domestic violence.... (But) the problems that Haiti
                  faces are solvable," she said.

                  She promised to announce more hurricane relief aid before she leaves for
                  home on Sunday. The United States already has pledged $12 million to help
                  Haiti recover from Hurricane Georges, which killed 220 people, damaged or
                  destroyed property of 330,000 people, and wiped out crops and livestock.
                  It's a disaster of monumental proportions for people who had so little to start
                  off.

                  There also was hope for more aid from some of Clinton's companions on the
                  trip, including financier-philanthropist George Soros and the father of
                  computer software tycoon Bill Gates, William H. Gates Sr., whose
                  foundations do work in Haiti.

                  During her visit, Clinton is to inspect U.S.-funded health facilities in the
                  country of 8 million people, where 40 percent of the population has no
                  access to health care and one child in eight dies before age 5, according to a
                  recent U.S. Agency for International Development report.

                  Clinton has also visited Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala,
                  hit by Hurricane Mitch, and the Dominican Republic, which shares the island
                  of Hispaniola with Haiti and also suffered from Georges.

                  Copyright 1998   The Associated Press.