Five days after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted by a bloody rebellion, a new council made up of people chosen by the government, Aristide’s political foes and foreign nations went to work.
Aristide’s Minister of Haitians Living Abroad, Leslie Voltaire, was named by the government. The political opposition Democratic Platform picked Paul Denis, a former senator, and the international community chose Adama Guindo, the U.N. resident coordinator.
The council will select a seven-member “Council of Wise Men” within a week to pick a new prime minister and begin the process of establishing a new government.
Haiti’s legislature has been largely defunct since early January. Only a few senators have time left in their terms.
Haitian and foreign officials have been struggling with the process of installing interim president Boniface Alexandre, who according to the constitution must be ratified by the legislature. It was still uncertain on Friday when a formal swearing in would be held at the palace.
Meanwhile, thousands of pro-Aristide supporters protested the "foreign occupation" near the United States Embassy.
U.S., French, Chilean and Canadian troops in Haiti numbered about 2,000, according to the commanders of the multinational force approved by the United Nations to restore order after days of looting and shooting following Aristide’s flight into exile in the Central African Republic on Sunday.
More than 100 people died in the armed revolt that began on Feb. 5 when an anti-Aristide gang took over the northern city of Gonaives. Former soldiers in Haiti’s disbanded army and ex-paramilitaries joined the revolt, taking over a series of towns in the north.
Aristide said from his African exile that he was kidnapped. The U.S. government has denied the allegation but residents of Aristide strongholds said they believed it.
Aid groups began distributing food and medicine to hospitals, orphanages and health care centers, but said security would have to improve before all of those in need could be reached. Sporadic gunfire was reported in the Cite Soleil and La Saline slums.
