HAITI-POLITICS-President nominates new candidate for PM

 

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – President Rene Preval has nominated economist Ericq Pierre to replace former Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis who was removed following riots over high food prices here last month.

 

Pierre, who currently serves as Haiti's representative to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), was first nominated for the post in 1997 during Preval’s first presidential term.

 

His nomination came after the Legislature ousted Alexis over his handling of the escalating food crisis which resulted in riots that caused the deaths of at least five people.

 

The Haitian National Assembly must approve of the nomination which was announced by Preval on Sunday. But it is not known when lawmakers will take up the issue.

 

Meanwhile, civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson arrived here on Sunday at the head of a delegation for a three-day visit to assess the situation and meet with Preval and other officials.

 

A statement from Jackson's Chicago-based organisation, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, said the team plans to also meet with Haitian citizens, religious leaders, and members of non-government groups.

 

"His goal is to bolster immediate humanitarian aid and devise long-term solutions to the problem of rising prices and curtailed supplies of staples, such as rice, that led to recent riots across Haiti," the statement said.

 

At the same time, Jackson lamented what he described as the "disparity" in how the US government treats Cuban and Haitian refugees.

 

Jackson said while the US readily welcomes Cuban refugees, it neglects Haitians.

 

 "We subsidize Cubans to come to the United States, but we ship Haitians out. We should change our policy and measure human fights by one yardstick," he added.

 

Thousands of Haitians have been fleeing to the US since 1991 to escape the violence and economic hardship after Haiti's leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown.

 

CMC/nk/pr/dmb/08