Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sought to refocus international attention on Haiti with a visit March 9 that they hope will lure more aid to keep the impoverished country from sliding back into chaos.

Clinton and Ban toured Haiti's rundown capital, and met with officials struggling with high food prices and the enduring effects of four devastating 2008 storms. The leaders called for more foreign aid and urged Haiti's weak central government to take charge of its development.

With a critical, long-delayed donor conference in Washington and elections for 12 Haitian Senate seats scheduled in April, the International Crisis Group and others have warned that Haiti's leaders must get billions of dollars in international aid and better manage affairs at home, or its short-lived period of political calm will end.