Haiti's advisory council named an interim prime minister to pave the way for elections, while US Marines said they would start helping disarm the general population in a potentially volatile move after weeks of bloodshed.
Militants demanding ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's return stoned cars and set barricades ablaze on Tuesday, blocking a main road in the capital and threatening renewed turmoil.
The new prime minister, Gerard Latortue, a former UN official and foreign minister, faces the difficult task of helping to restore peace in this troubled Caribbean nation following a monthlong insurgency that helped drive Aristide from power on Feb. 29. Rebels had seized control of half the country, sparking a frenzy of looting and violence. More than 400 people have died in the rebellion and reprisal killings.
Latortue, who lives in Florida, said his main priorities as prime minister would be security, justice, jobs and national reconciliation.
"I feel very happy that a chance is given to me to participate in the reconstruction of Haiti after all those years of bad governance," he told the south Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper in an interview published yesterday. "I hope I will be able to assemble Haitians from all political parties and social groups to make Haiti a country all Haitians will be proud to be from.
"I think Aristide is already the past," he added. "Now we're looking ahead at building Haiti after the disaster of the Aristide regime."
US Colonel Charles Gurganus told reporters in Port-au-Prince that a joint disarmament program with Haitian police was to begin yesterday. He called on Haitians to tell peacekeepers who has weapons and to turn in any arms, but he gave few details of how the program will work.
"The disarmament will be both active and reactive, but I'm not going to say any more about that," he said.
Rebel groups and Aristide loyalists have threatened violence if weapons aren't taken away from their enemies.
Since the US- and French-led peacekeepers arrived a week ago, there has been confusion over who is in charge of disarming groups. On Monday, Gurganus said disarming rebels was not part of the peacekeepers' mission, but he indicated that could change if police asked for help.
After five days of private meetings, the seven-member Council of Sages settled on Latortue, who also worked as an international business consultant in Miami.
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