Council chosen to elect Haitian PM
A seven-member council has been chosen to pick Haiti’s next prime minister, and officials hope to have a replacement in the next few days, the Organisation of American States said today.
The council was chosen by members of Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide’s Lavalas Family Party, opposition rebel groups and the international community, said OAS spokesman Ed Alexandre.
The prime minister’s post is largely a ceremonial one in Haiti, but members of the opposition and the international community were pressuring to replace Interim Prime Minister Yvon Neptune because of his ties to former President Jean Bertrand Aristide.
One possible choice to replace Neptune is Lt General Herard Abraham, who succeeded General Prosper Avril when he was ousted in a palace coup in 1990.
He later surrendered power to Haiti’s Supreme Court justice. That allowed a transition leading to Haiti’s first free elections in December 1990, which Aristide won in a landslide.
In the biggest show of force since former President Jean Bertrand Aristide fled the country on February 5, several thousand supporters marched through the streets shouting “Long live Aristide” and “Down with George Bush”.
They marched past US Marines, who stood impassively inside the gated, national palace.
Paul Arcelin, a former ambassador to the Dominican Republic who is close to rebel leader Guy Philippe, said the rebels would keep their weapons as long as Aristide militants stay armed because “tomorrow they’ll come here and kill us”.
Philippe, apparently under pressure from the United States, promised that his fighters would disarm.
But no plan has been announced under which the rebels would have to hand them in.
