Haiti names new Prime Minister Dimanche 27 Avril

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Les actualités:Dimanche 27 Avril 2008. Haiti on Sunday named a new prime minister two weeks after his predecessor was ousted over rocketing food and fuel prices that sparked violent demonstrations claiming several lives.

President Rene Preval chose Ericq Pierre, 63, a respected Haitian economist with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington, to be the country's prime minister, government sources told AFP.

Pierre, whose nomination must now pass a vote in parliament, would succeed former premier Jacques-Edouard Alexis, who was forced to resign on April 12 after a no-confidence vote followed food riots that killed six people and wounded around 200.

It was the first major political crisis to seize the country since Preval was elected president of the impoverished nation in February 2006, after two years of turmoil sparked by the departure of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Thousands of people took to the streets around Haiti earlier this month due to the latest jump in food and fuel prices, in sometimes violent demonstrations that forced United Nations troops deployed here to intervene.

One Nigerian peacekeeper was killed in the riots and three Sri-Lankan peacekeepers were wounded.

In a bid to quell the frustrations, Preval announced a plan to bring down rice prices by cutting the cost of a 50-kilogram (110-pound) bag of rice, which had doubled to 70 dollars within a week, by eight dollars, or 15 percent.

He defended Alexis as having done what he could in the face of global increases in food prices, and said it was "unfair" to place all the blame on him.

However, pressure had grown on the government in the current crisis, felt around the world and particularly in Haiti, where 70 percent of the population lives on less than two dollars per day.

Half of the Haitian population of 8.5 million people is unemployed.

Pierre, who lives in Washington and works as an advisor on Haiti to the IDB, was named in 1999 by Preval to serve as prime minister, but did not receive enough votes in parliament to be confirmed.

This time, however, several lawmakers said they believed his nomination would pass muster.

"The Lavalas party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in exile in South Africa, is ready to vote for the nomination of Mr. Pierre," Senator Rudy Heriveaux told AFP.

"I believe that he (Pierre) perfectly matches the profile that all the sectors have recommended.

I hope though that he will listen to their demands," said Heriveaux, who met Sunday with Preval hours before the official announcement of the Pierre nomination.

"We are going to hold a meeting of party leaders to decide our position," said the social-democratic Fusion party, a center-left grouping of around 20 parliamentarians.

One diplomat said "Preval was without doubt assured of (Pierre's) approval by political forces within Parliament before he made his choice."

"He had time to consult all the sectors of the chamber and in the Senate, and one can assume that the choice will be accepted," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

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Lionne Club, April 27 2008, 7:46 PM

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