New Haitian Prime Minister Vows to Heal Island’s Rifts

With Old World formality and musical accompaniment from a brass band, this strife-torn Caribbean land took another step toward normalcy Friday by officially installing a new prime minister, who vowed to do his utmost to bring Haitians together.

“Everything that has happened recently was the fruit of despair of people who didn’t know where to turn,” said Gerard Latortue, an economist and longtime U.N. official who was handed the decree announcing his appointment by Haiti’s acting president, Boniface Alexandre.

The investiture of the 69-year-old Latortue followed the resignation earlier in the day of Yvon Neptune, who served as prime minister under Haiti’s former president. Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned the presidency and fled abroad Feb. 29 in the face of an armed revolt and mounting international pressure.

Though Friday’s late afternoon investiture of Latortue, held in a sweltering, chandelier-lit hall at the National Palace, was meant to show Haitians and foreigners that things were getting back to normal in the poorest nation of the Western Hemisphere, there were clear indications of how dicey the political situation remains.

Armed bodyguards from the United States, Canada and France were on hand to provide security for the ceremony, which was attended by members of the Port-au-Prince diplomatic corps, leaders of pro- and anti-Aristide groups and numerous other guests. In the courtyard of the National Palace, where a family of peacocks strutted, U.S. Marines who have been assigned to guard the building were just chowing down on their dinnertime MRE rations.

An hour or so before the ceremony began, Haitian radios warned that armed bands loyal to Aristide, who has accused the Bush administration of driving him from office, planned to attack a downtown market district. By nightfall, though, no such attacks had been reported. In a stirring speech, Latortue asked for support from all Haitians, including members of Aristide’s Lavalas Party, and promised to deal with all segments of society equally “without exception,” he said. In paving the way for future elections to restore a fully constitutional form of government to Haiti, he said, all parties would have the same opportunity to make their case to voters.

But Latortue indicated there would be no immunity for Haitians implicated in the politically motivated murders, widespread official corruption and other excesses that widely discredited Aristide’s presidency.

Turning to foreign representatives, Latortue promised that he would see to it personally that every dollar sent to Haiti in aid would be spent for the reason it was given. As a police band on a balcony tootled “Over the Waves,” “Yellow Bird” and other tunes, Latortue and Alexandre, the interim president, received the Haitian and foreign dignitaries, shaking hands and conversing with each one.

Canadian Ambassador Kenneth Cook said he was cheered by the new prime minister’s remarks.

“What he was conveying was that this was to be a government of national reconciliation and unity, and that there would be no systematic seeking by people of vengeance on Lavalas,” said Cook. “That’s important, because if Lavalas supporters continue to feel excluded and not have the same freedoms as everyone else, you’ll find the problem of violence reoccurring.”

Many of Haiti’s leading politicos spent most of Thursday in a luxurious hotel in the hills overlooking Port-au-Prince, discussing with Latortue who should be included in Haiti’s government. The new prime minister said he hoped to announce the makeup of the Cabinet on Monday

Alexandre, who listened in a gilded throne-like chair as Latortue spoke, said the new government’s priority should be a “national emergency plan” to deal with insecurity, pillaging and other politically related violence, and that Haiti required urgent humanitarian aid from abroad.

The Bush administration has sent more than 1,600 Marines to Haiti, and U.S. officials announced that they would be visited today by Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“When troops are on the ground in any country, senior leaders are concerned and interested in what’s going on,” said Army Maj. Rich Crusan, a spokesman for the U.S. forces in Haiti. He said Myers probably would meet with Haitian officials, including the director of the national police.