28418: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-New Government

[corbetre@webster.edu]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By STEVENSON JACOBS

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, June 6 (AP) -- Haiti's president appointed a coalition
government Tuesday in an effort to unite the impoverished nation two years
after a bloody revolt toppled the last elected president.
   The new government includes members of six political parties,
underscoring President Rene Preval's need to bring together Haiti's
bitterly divided political factions. The two houses of Parliament were
expected to confirm the Cabinet appointments in separate votes within a
day.
   Haiti's powerful business community and large network of grassroots
organizations offered no immediate reaction to the new government, which
was announced after days of intense negotiations with Parliament, where no
party holds a majority.
   Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis said the government would embark
on a 25-year development plan, including boosting access to public services
for Haiti's poor, reinforcing the country's brittle state institutions and
attracting private investment.
   In an address to Parliament, Alexis said Preval's administration would
also work to restore security after the February 2004 revolt that toppled
former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and plunged the Caribbean nation of
roughly 8 million people into chaos.
   "We no longer have the right to fail," Alexis said. "The consequences
would be too heavy a burden to carry. The country cannot be content with
just hoping anymore. It must finally take the path that will lead to its
development."
   The 18-member Cabinet includes five members of Preval's 1999-2001
government, including Justice Minister Rene Magloire and Agriculture
Minister Francois Severin. Jean Raynald Clerisme, a former priest, was
appointed foreign affairs minister.
   The government is mostly made up of members of Preval's Lespwa party,
but also includes members of the party Fusion, the Struggling People's
Organization and one from Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas party, Planning Minister
Jean Max Bellerive said.
   Aristide's party was excluded from Cabinet posts in the U.S.-backed
interim government that took over in 2004.
   Lavalas officials, who are calling for Aristide's return from exile in
South Africa, had complained that they were being sidelined by Preval, a
former Aristide ally who has since severed ties with his political mentor.
   Preval was sworn in last month after winning elections in February, and
has since been in talks to form his Cabinet.
   In his address, Alexis said the government would embrace voices of all
political persuasions.
   He said the government would seek to develop Haiti's crippled economy by
promoting tourism, manufacturing and agriculture, and would "reconsider"
some legal changes enacted by the U.S.-backed interim government.
   Preval was Aristide's premier in September 1991, when the army staged a
bloody coup. Three years later, 20,000 U.S. troops intervened to restore
Aristide's democratically elected government.
   Aristide later backed Preval in 1995 elections when the constitution
barred the sitting president from running for a consecutive term.


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