Alexis

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AP):

President René Préval has announced that a new Haitian premier is to be appointed by consensus of both Houses of Parliament to replace dismissed Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.

Haitian lawmakers dismissed the country's prime minister late Saturday, hoping to defuse widespread anger over rising food prices that led to days of deadly protests and looting.

Presidents of both chambers have been summoned to ratify the person appointed separately in order to occupy the post as soon as possible, said Préval.

The new premier is expected to form the government and present a general political programme before the Assembly, Prena Latina reported Sunday.

Violence flared

Violence flared on Saturday in the capital where a United Nations police officer was shot dead and a market set on fire, even after Préval had earlier announced plans to cut the price of rice.

Alexis took office in 2006 with Préval's backing to head a Cabinet meant to unite the poor and fractious nation.

Opposition Senator Youri Latortue said lawmakers ousted the prime minister because he did not boost food production and refused to set a timetable for the departure of UN peacekeepers.

"I think that will satisfy the people," he said after 16 senators out of 27 voted to remove the prime minister.

But about 25 people gathered outside Parliament after the dismissal, chanting "Aristide or death", in reference to exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Later a UN police officer bringing food to his unit was pulled from a car and killed execution style in Port-au-Prince, UN sources said.

The police officer, identified in a forensics report as Nigerian Cpl Nagya Aminu, 36, drove a marked UN vehicle into a crowded clothing market, near the cathedral, where he was dragged from the car and shot through the neck, UN police spokes-man Fred Blaise said.

The incident is the first execution-style killing of a UN peacekeeper since the mission came to Haiti in 2004, Blaise said. Passengers in the car, including two Haitian women who work for the mission, were left unharmed.

Witnesses said other Nigerian police officers fired tear gas and warning shots to disperse the crowd before recovering the slain man's body. Two Haitian men were detained for questioning, including a local television journalist who was covering the incident.

When Associated Press reporters arrived shortly after, several market stalls on both sides of the street were on fire. Many in the crowd chanted, "Down with MINUSTAH," referring to the UN mission by its French acronym.

Préval's power play

A leadership change without much delay could help Préval create a government with more legitimacy, said Robert Fatton, a Haiti expert at the University of Virginia.

Without a Haitian army to challenge him and with the backing of the international community, Préval is likely to remain in power despite recent unrest, Fatton said.

But Eduardo Gamarra, direc-tor of the Latin America and Caribbean Center at Florida International University, cautioned that a political vacuum has been created and senators might now go after Préval.

The prime minister's ouster reflects frustration over soaring food prices in a nation where most people live on less than US$2 a day and chronic hunger had become unbearable in recent months.

The rage erupted in days of violent clashes with UN peacekeepers and looting across Haiti that left five people dead in the countryside before abating late Thursday. Protesters even stormed the presidential palace on Tuesday, charging its main gate with a rolling dumpster and yelling for Préval to step down.

An elderly woman on Saturday picks through the remains of a wrecked shoe market after several days of unrest in Port-au-Prince. - AP Photos