Haiti Appoints an Interim Premier

This Caribbean nation sought to establish some semblance of stability Tuesday, appointing a veteran diplomat as interim prime minister and receiving promises from U.S. Marines here that they would begin disarming gunmen roaming the streets.

Gerard Latortue, who served as Haiti’s foreign minister in 1988, was picked to lead a new government by the seven-member Council of Sages that is serving as an advisory body until elections can be held.

Latortue’s appointment, to be announced today, comes amid months of violence that has claimed at least 130 lives and laid waste to this capital city. In what has become a common sight, the body of a young boy lay for hours Tuesday in a pool of blood at the center of a busy traffic circle near the airport.

Latortue, thought to be in his 60s and currently living in Florida, agreed to take the job of interim prime minister until Haiti’s political institutions can be rebuilt and presidential and parliamentary votes held to elect new leaders, Danielle Magloire, a member of the Council of Sages, told Haitian radio.

Latortue will replace Yvon Neptune, a close ally of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and a senior member of the ousted leader’s Lavalas Party, which retains a role in setting up a new government.

Latortue served during the brief 1988 presidency of Leslie Manigat, one of more than 30 Haitian leaders deposed by coup d’etat over the last two centuries. Magloire said Latortue told the council that he would include two other men considered for the prime minister’s post in a Cabinet he is expected to name by week’s end. The two are Smarck Michel, a businessman and former prime minister, and retired Gen. Herard Abraham, who -- in a rare act here -- voluntarily surrendered power to a civilian in 1990.

On Tuesday, the U.S.-led multinational force announced that it would begin disarming pro-Aristide gangs and armed rebels, whose sweep from the north wrested control of half the country from Aristide and precipitated his exile to the Central African Republic.

Disarming the armed groups should help stabilize the capital, said Adama Guindo, the U.N.’s chief representative in Haiti.

“This is going to be extremely difficult if you try to take every weapon off the street,” Col. Mark Gurganus, commander of U.S. ground forces in Haiti, said of the disarmament effort. “But every one we get off the street makes the streets a little bit safer.”

Declining to give details of the operation, he said it would be “both proactive and reactive,” hinting that foreign troops might seize weapons from homes and from gunmen on the streets.

The daunting task facing foreign troops was highlighted by an incident Monday night in which a Haitian taxi driver was shot and killed by Marines. Micial Thelusma, 31, was killed and his 25-year-old brother, Fedelin, was injured when they mistook a Marine roadblock for an ambush by robbers and tried to crash through it.

As Thelusma turned onto Boulevard Toussaint L’Ouverture, he saw a white vehicle with headlights flashing in his direction and two cars in front of him make rapid U-turns.

“We thought there were robbers in the white car so we accelerated,” Fedelin Thelusma said.

Thelusma recalled shouts of “Stop! Stop! Stop!” but in panic, his brother didn’t brake until he was within a couple of car lengths of the Marines.

Gurganus said the U.S. troops opened fire, unleashing nine rounds at the passenger-side tires to try to halt the vehicle, then shooting at the perceived attacker.

The incident, which occurred outside an industrial park ravaged by looters, was “a clear case of hostile intent,” Gurganus said.

The death of Micial Thelusma sparked anger against the Marines outside the industrial park, where the man’s body lay for more than 12 hours before his family arranged for a funeral home to pick it up. Several dozen young men loitering nearby set fire to tires and debris in a demonstration that lasted through the night.

A day earlier, the U.S.-led forces had been accused of doing nothing to halt theft and destruction at the industrial park, one of the last functional economic facilities in this desperately poor country.

U.S. and French troops were also criticized for failing to protect a massive rally Sunday celebrating the departure of Aristide. Gunmen said to be loyal to Aristide opened fire, killing six. Marines fired on the gunmen and killed one.

Speaking to reporters about Monday’s shooting, Gurganus said his troops had stepped up patrols of the industrial park, which had been looted earlier in the day. The roadblock was marked with the flashing headlights of a vehicle to alert oncoming drivers, he said.

Mesene Thelusma, another brother of the dead man, said Haitians wouldn’t necessarily recognize the lights as a warning. Most barricades they encounter at night are hastily arranged traps by robbers, the 29-year-old airport employee said.

“We heard them shouting at us to stop. We were driving very fast and by the time we understood, they had started shooting at us,” recalled Fedelin Thelusma, who was wearing a T-shirt spattered with blood. “My brother had started braking, but it was too late.”

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Gerard Latortue

* Born June 19, 1934

* Educated at Universities of Haiti and Paris

* Married 1966; three children

* Economics professor, 1961-72

* U.N. official and business consultant, 1972-88

* Haiti’s foreign minister in 1988

* Moved to Florida after a 1988 coup. Became a talk show host on the Haitian Television Network in Miami

Sources: Associated Press, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, Florida Sun-Sentinel

Los Angeles Times