28437: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti swears in new PM and coalition Cabinet (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, June 9 (Reuters) - Haitian Prime Minister
Jacques Edouard Alexis and a coalition Cabinet meant to help unite the
fractious Caribbean nation were sworn into office on Friday.
     Outgoing Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, who was appointed to the post
by a council of elders after former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was
pushed from office by a bloody rebellion in 2004, left Haiti about two
weeks ago and did not attend the inauguration.
     The new government, including 18 ministers appointed by Alexis and
approved by Parliament this week, was installed in a ceremony at the
National Palace, completing the troubled Caribbean nation's first
democratic government in more than two years.
     Alexis called on the Cabinet, which includes ministers from five
leading opposition parties, to fight corruption. Haiti is a key Caribbean
conduit for cocaine traffickers and is perceived as one of the most corrupt
nations in the world.
     "I count on you to ensure sound and honest management of public
funds," Alexis told the ministers.
     President Rene Preval is a one-time Aristide protege who rode support
from Aristide's supporters in the slums to victory in the Feb. 7
presidential election. His election and the installation of Alexis's
government marked Haiti's latest steps to recover from decades of brutal
dictatorship and military rule, and the political turmoil that beset the
impoverished nation after Aristide was ousted in February 2004.
     Among Alexis' appointments were Preval adviser Daniel Dorsainvil, a
former U.S. Agency for International Development official, as finance
minister, and Renald Clerisme, a former member of Haiti's delegation to the
World Trade Organization, as foreign affairs minister.