Ex-World Bank Aide Bazin Named as New Haiti Leader

The military-backed interim government designated a conservative politician Tuesday to become Haiti’s new leader, state-run National Radio said.

Marc Bazin, a former World Bank official and businessman, is to assume the post of prime minister and run a consensus government under a plan backed by the army and many politicians.

Bazin’s appointment has been opposed by the international community and supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Haiti has been shaken by growing violence and an exodus of thousands of boat people over the last several weeks as U.S.-led sanctions squeezed the economy.

Police Tuesday broke up a funeral march for the slain brother of a prominent backer of Aristide. At least 10 people were arrested and several badly beaten by officers.

A National Radio reporter in a broadcast from Parliament quoted an “official and authorized source” as saying that Bazin was designated by interim President Joseph Nerette after two days of meetings with leading lawmakers.

Under the plan, Nerette and Prime Minister Jean-Jacques Honorat would step down once Bazin’s appointment is approved by Parliament.

Nerette and Honorat were appointed by Parliament, under heavy army pressure, shortly after Aristide’s ouster in a bloody September coup.

Bazin, 60, holds a law degree from the University of Paris law school. He has spent more than 20 years working as a development expert for the World Bank in West Africa and Haiti.

In 1982, he was economy minister for dictatorial President Jean-Claude Duvalier but was ousted after just four months for attempting anti-corruption reforms. The brief stint earned him the nickname “Mr. Clean.”

In elections in December, 1990, Bazin, a fluent English-speaker, was said to be the United States’ favored candidate. But he ran a distant second to Aristide.

Bazin’s relations with the U.S. Embassy soured after Aristide’s ouster in a bloody September coup. Bazin, openly scornful of Aristide, was suspected of undermining U.S. and international efforts to get the president reinstated.

Bazin is believed to have had substantial influence in the current interim government.

He is despised, however, by many supporters of Aristide.