Newly appointed Prime Minister Gerard Latortue called for an end to Haiti's "dictatorial inclinations," as violence flared outside his future office, where US Marines killed two gunmen.
On his arrival from Miami, Latortue, 69, held an airport press conference calling for "a great government of national consensus that will summon Haitians on the basis of competence, integrity and democratic commitment."
PHOTO: EPA
"Dictatorial inclinations in Haiti must cease," he said Wednesday.
"The security problem is out of hand. Disarmament is imperative," said Latortue, who was briefly Haiti's foreign minister in 1988 and was for years the highest-ranking Haitian official at the UN.
He referred to himself as a "man of compromise and unification," and said he wanted to expunge the words chimere, duvalieriste and macoute from the Haitian vocabulary.
The chimeres are the armed partisans of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide. The duvalieristes were partisans of former dictators Francois Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude. The tonton macoutes were the Duvaliers' heavy handed enforcers.
"It is my wish that the foreign troops remain in the country as short a time as possible," Latortue said. "But, unfortunately, our police lack training and I am counting on the collaboration of the foreigners to depoliticize them and make them more professional."
Marine Colonel Mark Gurganus, who heads the 2,500-strong multinational force in Haiti, said Marines came under fire Wednesday on two occasions near the prime minister's office and at the city's main port, returning fire in all three instances.
It was not clear whether outgoing prime minister Yvon Neptune was in the Port-au-Prince building at the time of the gunfight.
Marines who returned fire believed they killed two gunmen, although they found no bodies on the roof, the colonel said.
Marines guarding the main port, the scene of earlier looting, also came under fire from the occupants of a car, who fled on foot when the troops returned fire, Gurganus said.
US troops have killed two Haitians in recent days. One was shooting at the presidential palace and another failed to stop at a military roadblock, according to the military.
US troops hope getting guns off the streets will help reduce the violence and Gurganus said his men had started looking for illegal weapons Wednesday, though they did not seize any.
Diplomats said they hoped the political process under way would help stabilize the country after Aristide resigned as president and fled into exile on Feb. 29 under pressure of a month-long armed uprising.
The process was expected to gain momentum with the return of Latortue, named prime minister by a council of "wise men" formed under a plan approved by the US, France and the Organization of American States.
"We give ourselves until the end of the week to form a government," said council member Paul-Emile Simon.
But he said it was doubtful presidential elections could be held within 50 days as provided by the Constitution. He said it could be as much as two years before legislative elections are held.
Washington blamed Aristide for the violence that has rocked Haiti.
"This was the direct result of president Aristide having armed and empowered gangs and groups of thugs," said US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Peter DeShazo.
"The confrontation that has occurred ... was the direct result of policies taken by the government of president Aristide, by president Aristide himself," DeShazo said.
US lawmakers Wednesday questioned US policy toward Haiti, wondering why the US did not intervene sooner, despite Secretary of State Colin Powell's assertion in mid-February that he would not allow rebels to oust Aristide.
"We were not willing to risk American lives to keep him in power," Roger Noriega, assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing.
He rejected as "ridiculous" Aristide's contention that he was kidnapped by the US military.
Aristide's departure triggered an angry reaction by his militant and often heavily armed supporters, who went on a rampage of violence and looting.
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