Port-au-Prince, Mar 11: Haiti's new prime minister has called for national reconciliation and an end to the dictatorships of the past after arriving back from exile. Gerard Latortue, a former foreign minister and UN official, was appointed to form a transition government and organise fresh elections.

In the aftermath of the successful rebellion against President Aristide, he said disarmament was essential.

The UN has warned Haitian children are at grave risk of hunger and disease.
And the security situation remains unsettled with US marines saying they had shot dead two armed men in the capital Port-au-Prince after coming under fire on Wednesday.

"The security problem is out of hand. Disarmament is imperative," said Mr Latortue, describing himself as a man of "compromise and unification".

He said he hoped the foreign peacekeepers would help retrain local police to "depoliticise them and make them more professional".

The new PM said he would consider re-establishing the army, dissolved by the ousted president in 1995 after human rights abuses.

Latortue has lived in the US since 1988 but was nominated to be prime minister by a group of eminent Haitians earlier this week.
Bureau Report