The Swiss government froze the Duvalier money in 2002 because it "wished to prevent the abuse of Switzerland's financial sector as a place of safety for assets acquired by unlawful means," the ministry said in a statement. Lawyers for victims of the Duvalier regime are trying to prevent his family from gaining access to the money, arguing it should be returned to the Haitian people. If the government decides to hand over the funds to the Haitian authorities, the account holders can appeal the decision to Switzerland's Federal Criminal Tribunal. (AP)

JUNE
26 June - Cuts in gasoline subsidies pushed the price of fuel to US$6.14 a gallon on Thursday, further burdening an impoverished people as the government redirected money to other programs. The 80-cents-per-gallon increase was felt immediately in the struggling country where 80 percent of people live on less than US$2 a day. Gasoline subsidies were implemented by President Rene Preval to prevent instability after April riots over the high cost of food that left at least seven dead and resulted in the dismissal of the country's prime minister, who has not yet been replaced. But the cash-strapped government could not maintain assistance that totaled an estimated $15 million over three months while also providing agricultural assistance and other programs meant to combat the country's ongoing food crisis, Haitian economist Kesner Pharel said. Preval could "pay some political price" for allowing the increases."It's a difficult choice but ... if you keep losing money like that you have a price to pay in the medium and long term," Pharel said.

Port-au-Prince's public taxis, or "tap-taps," raised fares to cope with fuel costs, prompting arguments with passengers. The passengers don't want to pay. We have to fight with them," said 46-year-old Molier Benoit, whose syndicate doubled its fares to 12 gourdes (31 cents) per ride in a metal frame built onto the back of a rickety pickup truck. (AP)

23 June - President Rene Preval has put forward a new candidate for prime minister after parliament rejected his two previous choices to replace a government leader fired over violent food price protests, the Senate leader said on Monday. The nominee is economist Michele Pierre-Louis, Senate President Kelly Bastien said. "I think this country urgently needs a new prime minister, a new government. We are going to work in Parliament to speedily study her documents to determine her eligibility," Bastien told Reuters. "We'll see what the assembly decides." Pierre-Louis has been the director of FOKAL, a foundation that provides libraries, youth education programs and women's networks in Haiti. It is supported by George Soros' Open Society Institute. If confirmed, she would be Haiti's second woman prime minister. (Reuters)

12 June - Haitian lawmakers rejected President Rene Preval's nominee for prime minister on Thursday, in another blow to his efforts to establish a stable democracy in the impoverished Caribbean country. It was the second rejection of a candidate for the post in the past month, leaving the president saddled with a lame-duck government. The candidacy of Robert Manuel, a longtime friend and adviser to Preval, was rejected in a 57-22 vote in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house in Haiti's parliament. Lawmakers cited residency requirements for their decision to spurn Manuel, who was nominated by Preval on May 26. According to the Haitian Constitution, a candidate for prime minister has to have lived in the country for five consecutive years prior to taking office. Manuel, who was forced to abandon his homeland for political reasons in 1999, only returned near the end of 2005. Manuel's supporters attributed his rejection to the corrosive influence of drug gangs and other criminal groups. "The truth is there is a group of deputies who are influenced by evil forces such as drug dealers," said Deputy Jonas Coffy. (Reuters)

10 June - The dosier of the prime minister-designate, Bob Manuel, is being reviewed by the lawmakers' special commission this week. In order to win the support of the Coalition of Progressive Parliamentarians (CPP) bloc, the head of state is considering meeting for the third time with the members of this majority bloc in the lower chamber on 11 June. Declaring that the bloc is more united than ever, Jacmel Deputy Patrick Domond says the deputies do not know what President Preval will say to them. The CPP bloc has 53 deputies. The three other blocs - Fusion, the OPL/Konba, and the UPDN (Union of Parliamentarians for National Development) - together have only 45 members. "We want to exercise our constitutional prerogatives and ensure respect for the Constitution," Deputy Domond says, while he acknowledges the need to form a new government. "We do not want to rush to ratify a prime minister who does not meet the people's expectations," he asserts. The Jacmel deputy, who elected under the banner of the Lespwa Platform, declares that a great number of CPP members are hostile to Manuel. He acknowledges, however, that about 20 deputies from the bloc support President Preval's adviser (Manuel). Deputy Domond does not want to disclose his position about Manuel, but he recognizes that Manuel has significant public security experience. (Metropole)

4 June - Thousands of protesters rallied outside government buildings in the capital Wednesday, demanding officials crack down on a four-year kidnapping scourge that has terrorized the Caribbean country. Well-dressed Haitians from the hills above Port-au-Prince and sitting lawmakers were among more than 2,000 demonstrators marching to the Justice Ministry and Supreme Court in a peaceful protest. Thousands more lined the streets to watch. U.N. police said more than 157 people have been kidnapped this year in Haiti, up 10 percent from last year to date and a rate of about one per day. Kidnappings for ransom have plagued the impoverished country since 2005, leaving restaurants empty, scaring away foreign investment and destabilizing the government. Almost every sector of society has been targeted, including schoolchildren and foreigners.

One protester carried a photo of Kareem Xavier Gaspard, a 16-year-old banker's son who was killed and dumped in an open-air market last month even though his parents paid abductors a ransom. "Haiti has a grave sickness," said Stephen William Phelps, a friend of the slain teenager's father. "We all have a responsibility to stand up and say no." Other recent kidnapping victims include a 32-year-old Canadian woman who had been in the country for less than a month and an 11-year-old boy who was snatched in recent days. Both were released unharmed, U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaise said.

Many of the protesters blamed the justice system for failing to round up kidnappers and punish them with life sentences in prison, the maximum penalty under Haitian law. They shouted "We are tired!" to onlookers on the balcony of the high court and waved signs reading "Kidnapping is a return to slavery." Pierre Esperance, director of the National Human Rights Defense Network, said suspects in kidnappings are finding ways to bribe their way out of trouble. "Many people here are arrested for kidnapping and the judicial system lets them go because someone has paid money," he said. "It is getting worse every day." (AP)

MAY
31 May - Haitian police have arrested four men they say helped organize several recent kidnappings. UN police spokesman Fred Blaise says the suspects are in their 20s and belong to a local gang. He says they helped kidnap a priest's daughter in Port-au-Prince last week and also took part in other recent abductions. It is unclear if they are suspected of being involved in the recent high-profile kidnapping of a 32-year-old Canadian woman, who was released this week. The priest's daughter also was eventually released. Blaise says the men were nabbed Friday after neighbors called in a tip. (AP)

29 May - Judge Bernard Saint-Vil has issued a ruling holding GIs of the multinational force, that was deployed on the departure of Aristide, responsible for the killing of Spanish journalist, Ricardo Ortega, according to SOS Journalistes. The organization SOS Journalists on Thursday said that Judge Bernard Saint-Vil had issued a ruling closing the investigation into the killing of Spanish journalist, Ricardo Ortega, on March 7, 2004, in Port-au-Prince. According to the ruling cited by the Secretary-General of SOS Journalistes, Guyler C. Delva, the bullets which caused the death of Spanish journalist came from heavy weapons used by GIs, members of the multinational force that preceded the United Nations Mission to Stabilize Haiti (Minustah). Special envoy of the Spanish network Antenna 3 in Haiti, Ricardo Ortega was fatally hit by gunfire while covering a demonstration in the centre of the capital organized by leaders of the anti-Aristide GNB movement, eight days after the forced departure of president. The oppponents of Aristide had then accused Lavalas Family militants of having committed the act. Guy Delva has called on the U.S. government to provide explanations about this dossier.

The Secretary-General of SOS Journalists also condemned acts of intimidation and persecution suffered by Haitian journalists, particularly in the cities of Saint Marc (Artibonite), Jeremie (South-West) and Port-au-Prince (West). "These acts are mostly perpetrated by authorities who, in principle, have a mandate to run the country's institutions," lamented Mr. Delva, arguing at the same time in favour of the decriminalization of defamation. "The law on defamation often prevents citizens, particularly journalists, from expressing themselves freely", he said. (AHP)

28 May - President Rene Preval urged Brazil to send more police and engineers during a visit on Wednesday by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Brazil heads the 9,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force sent to Haiti four years ago to provide security after then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in an armed rebellion. Lula is making his first trip to Haiti since 2004. Brazil has about 1,200 military personnel in Haiti, including soldiers, police and engineers.

"We have told President Lula to send more police instead of military," Preval said as the two leaders made statements at the National Palace after their meeting. "We don't have the same situation where we have to confront organized armed groups in Haiti, but (rather) armed individuals who through kidnappings are causing a lot of pain."

While peacekeepers have largely quelled the gang violence that followed Aristide's ouster, kidnapping-for-ransom and other street crime remains a serious problem in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. Preval said 25 kidnappings had been reported to the police in May alone. Human rights groups put the figure closer to 40. The U.N. peacekeeping force includes 7,082 troops and 1,930 police. Haiti's police force numbers about 8,000. Preval did not say how many more police officers he wanted Brazil to send. Lula made no comment on Preval's request for more police, but said he was sending more engineers. (Reuters)

26 May - President Rene Preval nominated his longtime friend and adviser Robert Manuel on Sunday to become prime minister of the impoverished Caribbean nation, where the previous government was toppled by food riots in April. Preval named Manuel in a late-night meeting with the presidents of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, the lower house in Haiti's parliament. Both chambers must vote on the nomination.

Manuel, 55, is an architect and a recognized security and law enforcement authority who served as secretary of state for public safety during a portion of Preval's first term as president from 1996 to 2001. He managed Preval's successful election campaign in 2006. "I believe we need to work together to change this country and I want to make my contribution," Manuel told Reuters following his nomination.

Lawmakers were expected to begin discussions on the new nominee on Monday. "The Coalition of Parliamentarians for Progress has set up a meeting tomorrow (Monday) to determine what its position will be," said Levaillant Louis-Jeune, a spokesman for the group of lawmakers that joined to defeat Pierre's nomination. (Reuters)

16 May - Several members of the lower house bloc, the Concertation des Parlementaires Progressistes (CPP), have responded to the accusation of their involvement in corruption attempts levelled by the former nominee for prime minister, Ericq Pierre, during his press conference at the Hotel Montana on Thursday. CPP Deputy Enel Appolon said he was surprised to hear Mr. Pierre talk about deputies trying to barter their votes in exchange for favours from him, when the attempts at corruption were actually coming from his camp. "Didn't Deputy Arodin Bien-Aimé seek, on behalf of Mr. Pierre, to buy CPP votes in order to guarantee his candidate's ratification," asked the legislator, who cited the names of Jean Evens Charles, director of the National Port Authority, and Joanas Gué, Secretary of State for Agriculture, as people close to Ericq Pierre who also tried to corrupt the CPP deputies with money and other favours in order to secure a yes vote from the lower house of parliament. Colleagues in the Concertation des Parlementaires Progressistes have supported Appolon in his counter-accusations, pointing the finger at certain unnamed foreign embassies engaged in "this absloutely scandalous and vile practice". (Info-Haiti.net)

14 May - The demonstrators who ignited last month's violent protests against rising food prices have accepted U.S.-sponsored jobs rather than follow through on a threat to launch new riots in the impoverished Caribbean country. The protesters in Les Cayes, a southern city where five people were killed in clashes with U.N. peacekeepers in April, had vowed to take to the streets again by Monday if parliament failed to ratify a new prime minister to replace Jacques Edouard Alexis, who was fired by the Senate on April 12. With shovels and rakes in hand as they cleaned dusty streets and drainage ditches in a sprawling Les Cayes slum on Tuesday, protest leaders said they had entered into a shaky truce with the government but warned that violence could erupt again soon.

"We want housing, government-sponsored community restaurants and stores, professional schools and health centres," said one, a man of about 20 who gave his name only as Charles. "The situation has not changed yet," he added, saying the temporary jobs handed out by the mayor's office and bankrolled by the U.S. Agency for International Development, had fallen far short of the protesters' demands and would only buy peace for a short period of time.

Only 40 protesters have been hired as street cleaners. But their wages of about $4 (2.06 pounds) per day are more than double the daily average wage in the poorest country in the Americas."They try to buy us off when they distribute food and create a few jobs ... but this will not solve the problems. We'll take to the streets again as long as our demands are not met," said Charlemagne Bien-Aime.

The protest leaders, who gather regularly in a tree-shaded cemetery in the La Savane slum, said on May 5 that Haiti's lawmakers and President Rene Preval had one week to install a new prime minister to start addressing their demands. One of their main issues is the cost of rice, beans and other staples in Haiti, which have more than doubled over the past few months. But the lower house of parliament rejected Preval's nominee to succeed Alexis in a surprise vote on Monday, a move backed by Alexis supporters. The rejection undercut Preval's efforts to establish a stable democracy in a country wracked by decades of political upheaval and brutal dictatorship./P>

Les Cayes Mayor Yvon Chery said the situation in the town has been defused at least temporarily by the jobs program but acknowledged that violent protests could erupt again. "The situation is very fragile," he told Reuters. "The government needs to pay more attention and also provide more means to help address the problems." (Reuters)

12 May - Haiti's efforts to install a new prime minister suffered a serious setback Monday after lawmakers rejected President René Préval's choice for the job. The 51-35 vote against Ericq Pierre in the Chamber of Deputies set the stage for a possible bureaucratic paralysis in a nation where food riots last month left at least six protesters dead and resulted in the firing of Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis.Several lawmakers who supported Pierre's nomination worried about the impact of the decision. With only a caretaker government in place, Haiti cannot sign any new agreements or accept millions of dollars in promised aid from several countries and institutions following last month's food riots. ''I am the one who lost here,'' said Eric Jean-Jacques, president of the Chamber of Deputies, who supported Pierre's nomination. ``We will wait for the president to give us another prime minister.''

Haitian senators approved Pierre's nomination last week, which left it up to the lower chamber to follow suit before full confirmation could take place. But after several hours of debate, a majority of deputies cast their votes against Pierre, citing irregularities with the spelling of his name in documents. Monday's vote marked the second time in 11 years the lower chamber failed to ratify Pierre, a senior official with the Inter-American Development Bank and respected agronomist.

The vote wasn't just against Pierre. With most of the members of Préval's own Lespwa political coalition opposing Pierre's nomination, it was also a reflection of Préval's leadership on the issue, several lawmakers said. ''He gave us a name without discussion. He needs to do real consultation. He only came with a name and he did not do consultation,'' Deputy Francois Lucas Sainvil, a member of Lespwa and leader of a bloc within the lower chamber that opposed Pierre's nomination, told The Miami Herald in a phone interview. The bloc of 52 deputies espouses a leftist and populist ideology and believes that international financial institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the IDB are all to be blamed for Haiti's abysmal poverty. While Sainvil said the decision was more ''technical than political,'' he said deputies made their decision on Sunday and it came after meeting with Pierre and hearing his plans to institute an anti-poverty program drawn up by Haiti with help from the World Bank. The plan focuses on creating jobs in rural sectors, among other strategies. ''We reflected on the situation and we made an analysis,'' Sainvil said.

For several hours Monday, Pierre's opponents debated so-called 'irregularities' in his documents. citing the fact that his name was spelled three different ways on the legal documents. Some documents had Ericq Pierre, P. Ericq Pierre and Pierre Ericq Pierre, they argued. The last time deputies rejected Pierre's nomination, in 1997 -- on the pretext that he could not produce his grandmother's birth certificate -- it took Préval 19 months to install a new prime minister. (Miami Herald)

7 May - Haiti took a step toward installing a new government on Wednesday as the Senate ratified nominee Ericq Pierre for prime minister, more than a month after violent protests over rising food prices that led to the ouster of the old government.The Senate voted 17-0 with two abstentions to approve Pierre, an adviser with the Inter-American Development Bank. His appointment will not become final until he is approved by the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house in Haiti's Parliament. "We have made a step forward, so now it is up to the Chamber to do its part," Sen. Rudy Heriveaux said after the vote. "We believe that Ericq Pierre can help bring solutions to the current problems." (Reuters)

5 May - Slum leaders in the southern town of Les Cayes who started Haiti's recent food riots handed lawmakers an ultimatum on Monday to install a new government within a week or face more protests. Jean Rene Frazil, an organizer of last month's street demonstrations, told Haitian President Rene Preval and parliament that renewed protests could be more violent than last month's unrest across the impoverished Caribbean country. "Preval and parliament have no more than one week to install a new prime minister and a new government," Frazil, 28, told Reuters. "Otherwise, we'll take to the streets again and it will be much worse than what happened during the past protests."

"We did it last time and we can do it again if necessary," Frazil said angrily, referring to the early April protests, as he stood in the middle of about two dozen people in the slum of La Savane, where the deadly riots started. Several chanted anti-government slogans and promised to turn the town upside down if the deadline was not met. "A new prime minister is long overdue," Jose Pierre, 30, said. "When a starving population is angry, anything can happen. They'd better do something now before it's too late." The seaside neighborhood of La Savane is the poorest slum in Haiti's southern region, where households often consist of large groups of people with too little to eat. "I have 10 children. I cannot send them to school and I cannot feed them because I am not working," said Jacqueline Emile, 52. "I would like the government to help me."

Slum leaders called on Preval to set up community food warehouses and canteens, professional schools, health centers and to create jobs for young people to help halt rising crime. "Our decision is that our children should have a better future and should not inherit this situation of absolute destitution in which our fathers and mothers have lived and in which we are living today," Marc-Orel Sanon said. "We'll fight to our last breath to change that." (Reuters)

APRIL
28 April - Parliamentary leaders said on Monday Prime Minister-designate Ericq Pierre was a "technician" with the right experience to lead Haiti's new government after violent protests triggered by rising food prices. Senate leader Kelly Bastien said Pierre, who was nominated by President Rene Preval on Sunday, had the expertise to lead a broad-based effort to meet the economic and social challenges Haiti faces. "Ericq Pierre might not have been the right man to solve political problems because he is not a politician," Bastien told Reuters on Monday. "But the urgent priority is to address economic and social problems and Pierre is the right man to do so as a non-politically biased technician," he said. Pierre, a 63-year-old agronomist and agricultural economist, has served as an Inter-American Development Bank adviser for Haiti and Argentina.

The president of the lower house of parliament, Pierre Eric Jean-Jacques, said he immediately agreed when Preval first told him he was considering Pierre as Alexis' replacement on Sunday. The appointment must still be ratified by parliament. "My answer was immediately yes, because I know Ericq Pierre as a patriot, an honest and competent technician," Jean-Jacques told Reuters. "Now that we, as leaders of parliament, have given our OK for Ericq Pierre, we will work at convincing other colleagues that he is the right man," he added.

Some lawmakers have expressed reservations about Pierre, however, saying his background suggested he might adhere blindly to "neo-liberal" policies laid down by the International Monetary Fund, which they see as inappropriate for Haiti's weak economy. "We don't want to judge Ericq in advance, but we know he is part of neo-liberalism machinery and could be tempted to fully comply with IMF injunctions," said lawmaker Jean Beauvoir Dorson of the lower chamber.(Reuters)

28 April - President Rene Preval on Sunday named a new prime minister two weeks after his predecessor was ousted over rocketing food and fuel prices that sparked violent demonstrations claiming several lives. Preval chose Ericq Pierre, 63, a respected Haitian economist with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington, to be the country's prime minister, Senate President Kelly Bastien and Chamber or Deputies president Pierre-Eric Jean-Jacques told AFP. Pierre, whose nomination must now pass a vote in parliament, would succeed former premier Jacques-Edouard Alexis, who was forced to resign on April 12 after a no-confidence vote followed food riots that killed six people and wounded around 200.

Pierre, who lives in Washington DC and works as an advisor on Haiti to the IDB, was named in 1999 by Preval to serve as prime minister, but did not receive enough votes in parliament to be confirmed. This time, however, several lawmakers said they believed his nomination would pass muster. "The Lavalas party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, in exile in South Africa, is ready to vote for the nomination of Mr. Pierre," Senator Rudy Heriveaux told AFP. "I believe that he (Pierre) perfectly matches the profile that all the sectors have recommended. I hope though that he will listen to their demands," said Heriveaux, who met Sunday with Preval hours before the official announcement of the Pierre nomination. "We are going to hold a meeting of party leaders to decide our position," said the social-democratic Fusion party, a center-left grouping of around 20 parliamentarians. One diplomat said "Preval was without doubt assured of (Pierre's) approval by political forces within Parliament before he made his choice." "He had time to consult all the sectors of the chamber and in the Senate, and one can assume that the choice will be accepted," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity. (AFP)

25 April - The Democratic Popular Movement (MODEP), the Gramsci Circle, the Movement for Popular Ideas and Action (MORAP), and the Revolutionary Workers' Organisation (OTR), together with workers from the industrial park, demonstrated in front of the office of the Ministry of Social and Labour Affairs in Delmas 33 on the morning of 25th April. The demonstration was held to highlight the problems of the high cost of living and the low minimum wage. (MODEP)

22 April - Acute hunger and the rising cost of living could send a new wave of boat people from Haiti, where rising food prices set off deadly riots two weeks ago and drove the prime minister from office, officials and analysts say. In the small town of Montrouis, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Port-au-Prince, desperate Haitians say they will seize the first opportunity to take a boat toward the US coast to escape the misery. "I will leave with the next boat going to Miami because I can no longer resist this hunger," Marcel Jonassaint, 34, told Reuters on Tuesday as he sat barefoot near the dock in Montrouis, throwing a handful of small rocks into the ocean. "I have four children and I don't have a job and everything is expensive, even for those who are working," Jonassaint said. "So what do you want me to do?"

Montrouis is a coastal village, overlooking the island of La Gonave, reputed as a key launching point for migrant boats. "I left earlier this year. Our boat was intercepted in the high seas, but I will try again," said 29-year-old Rachel Chavanne. "I know some people, like a cousin of mine, who had a successful trip there. "My turn will also come one day," she said in her blue dress, with a smile on her face.

The director for the country's national migration office, Jeanne Bernard Pierre, said since the food crisis, her agency has received more repatriated Haitian boat people in a week than it used to receive in a month or more. "We have received 212 repatriated last week, we have just received 227 and we are receiving 114 tomorrow," Pierre told Reuters on Tuesday. "It is clear that more boat people have been leaving the country and you should expect even more if they cannot find an alternative," said Pierre, who urged the government and the international community to set up programs to ease the plight of the poorest and most vulnerable.

The US Coast Guard has intercepted 972 Haitian migrants at sea since Oct. 1, compared with 376 during the same period last year. But the numbers typically fluctuate and it's impossible to link any spike in the numbers to any one event such as the recent food riots, Coast Guard Petty Officer Barry Bena said. "It peaks at certain points and there's months on end when we get no Haitian vessels at all," he said.

Pierre said her office is doing its best to persuade suffering Haitians to stay home, but "they believe the only alternative left for them is to leave." Migration office employees have been sent to poor, seaside neighborhoods to warn people how risky it is to take to the sea in rustic vessels, but they reply by giving examples of friends and relatives they knew made it to Miami. "We even show them pictures of sharks eating people, but they would tell us they know many others who reached U.S soil and who are now sending money to relatives left in Haiti," said Pierre. There are frequent reports of drownings when unsafe and overloaded migrant vessels capsize or break apart while trying to reach the United States and the Bahamas. A suspected migrant smuggling boat capsized off the Bahamas during the weekend and rescue crews recovered three survivors and 15 bodies, many of them Haitians. Human rights activist Renan Hedouville said Haitians are leaving because the government and the rest of the world have turned a blind eye to the hungry. (Reuters)

12 April - Haiti's prime minister was ousted Saturday in a no confidence vote after more than a week of violent demonstrations over rocketing food and fuel prices. Just as President Rene Preval unveiled a plan to cut the price of rice by 15 percent, 16 senators in the upper house of parliament voted unanimously to censure Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis over the crisis, costing him his job leading the government. With the 10 senators in Alexis's own party absent, the legislators reproached the prime minister for failing to respond to the needs of Haiti's 8.5 million people, 80 percent of whom live on less than two dollars a day.

The move came amid reports that UN peacekeepers fired tear gas at protesters in central Port-au-Prince, and that a UN policeman dressed in civilian clothes was shot dead by unknown assailants near the capital's cathedral. "He was a riot policeman from Nigeria," said Sophie Boutaud de la Combe, spokeswoman for the Minustah force.

Earlier Preval said that he would not block any attempt to remove Alexis. He agreed to work with senate and lower house chiefs to find a replacement. "If parliament fires the prime minister, I will do what the constitution demands -- I will consult the two parliamentary leaders to name a new prime minister, because no party has a parliamentary majority," Preval said. Flanked by food importers, Preval announced his plan to bring down rice prices following more than a week of protests and riots that left at least five people dead and 200 injured, according to an unofficial count. He said the plan would cut the cost of a 50 kilogram (110 pound) bag of rice, which had doubled to 70 dollars within a week, by eight dollars (15 percent).

"It is a move the government has agreed to thanks to the three million dollars in aid provided by the international community," Preval said, adding that the government would also work to encourage more food production. He defended Alexis as having done what he could in the face of global increases in food prices, and said it was "unfair" to place all the blame on him.

Thousands of people took to the streets around Haiti last week after the latest jump in food and fuel prices, in sometimes violent demonstrations that forced United Nations troops deployed here to intervene. Blue-helmeted UN peacekeepers were called in to protect the presidential palace, using tear gas and firing into the air to repel demonstrators, radio reports said, while there were also reports of looting.

Senator Jean Judnel, who backed Saturday's censure motion, said lawmakers would now "work with the president to chose a new prime minister." "We will size up that prime minister to see if he can respond to the needs of the population," he told AFP. "He must be able to listen to the cries of the people," Judnel said.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that Caracas would send Haiti 364 tonnes of emergency food aid, including beef, chicken, milk, cooking oil, lentils and other foods. Chavez, in Caracas, said the decision was aimed at helping "to ease a crisis that is enormous." (AFP)

12 April - The government and the private sector announced an emergency plan on Saturday to bring down the price of rice by about 15 percent in a bid to stop food riots. President Rene Preval, under fire from critics for not doing enough about the soaring cost of living after more than a week of violent protests, said the price cut would be partly funded by the Haitian private sector and partly by money from international donors.

Crowds of stone-throwing Haitians began battling UN peacekeepers and Haitian police in the south of the country on April 2, enraged at the soaring cost of rice, beans, bread, cooking oil and other staples. The unrest, in which at least five people died, spread to the capital Port-au-Prince this week, bringing the sprawling and chaotic city to a halt as mobs took over the streets, smashing windows, looting shops and setting fire to cars.

Preval, whose appeal on Wednesday for an end to the violence brought a tense calm to the capital, said the price of a sack of rice would come down to US$43 from US$51. Of that reduction, US$3 would be paid by businesses. "The situation is difficult everywhere around the world, everyone has to make a sacrifice," Preval said at a news conference in the opulent National Palace in downtown Port-au-Prince. "We are not going to lower taxes on food...," he said, reiterating that the poorest country in the Americas could not afford to cut its revenues or it would not have enough money to pay for longer term projects that create jobs and boost agriculture. (Reuters)

11 April - On Thursday, Haitians slowly resumed their daily activities as a semblance of normalcy appeared to be returning to the nation, even as a large demonstration was reported in Arcahaie, one hour north of Port-au-Prince. In the capital, barbed-wire barricades guarding the presidential palace were gone, peacekeepers removed debris and some businesses timidly reopened their doors. Yet even as Haiti's political landscape remained intact, it was still potentially volatile as political parties reiterated their call for Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis' resignation and 16 senators gave an ultimatum: Resign or face censure. For his part, Alexis met with international diplomats whose countries pledged their support for food but also warned of the need for more concrete proposals from him and President René Préval, whose public address Wednesday halted the violence but not fears that it would return.

With countless businesses trashed or destroyed, gas stations still shuttered Thursday and schools closed, day-to-day life is harder than ever for Haitians. Henry, 21, who moved to the capital two years ago from Jacmel to attend high school, described how at 13 cents a minute he must sell as least 40 minutes of calls to afford the weekly $5.50 phone rental fee, while hoping there is enough left over for food, rent and school tuition. Though he considers himself among the fortunate ones -- he's able to earn some money, even if it's the 10-cent profit he gets from hustling $1.50 prepaid cellphone cards -- life is still hard. By late Thursday morning, he still had not eaten his first meal, and with his phone broken, he said he was unsure there would be dinner. The night before, he ate cornmeal with greens. The raw greens cost him 25 cents, and the cornmeal -- which has doubled in price -- cost him 65 cents. ''I eat meat two or three times a month,'' he said.

Haitians have introduced new expressions to describe how expensive life has become here. The Creole phrase ''Aba lavi chè'' -- Down with the expensiveness -- is scribbled in red throughout the city. Haitians also describe the burning sensation in their empty stomachs as if they had swallowed ''acide batterie'' -- battery acid -- or ''klowox'' -- Clorox. While Haitian and international officials have stressed the need to create jobs, few have been created in recent years. The majority of the population is unemployed. Even those who have traditionally made it by working in Haiti's informal economy say it is becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

Louimane Alexis, 38, who pushes a wheelbarrow three to four times a day for $1.50 a job, says, ``What it pays is not enough. But I have to do it because I have five children to feed.'' Alexis has been on the job for 10 years, walking miles in the blazing hot sun on Port-au-Prince streets delivering boxes of merchandise. He bought his latest wheelbarrow, a green one, for $70. (Miami Herald)

10 April - Since April 7, MSF teams have treated more than 31 wounded patients, including 15 people with gunshot wounds, in MSF-operated hospitals in the capital city, Port-au-Prince. Most of the patients were wounded when demonstrators in the city protested against rapidly increasing living costs, especially sharp increases in the price of basic food items. "On April 8, we treated 25 wounded patients at Trinité hospital, including 14 gunshot victims," said MSF Project Coordinator, Guenaele Rota. "Of the 25 people, two had knife wounds, nine were beaten and one person had non-accidental burns. Six of the wounded were transferred immediately to the operating room for surgery." (MSF)

10 April - Haitian President Rene Preval told demonstrators to "cool it" on Wednesday as he sought to end days of violent protests over soaring food prices. His appeal, in a national address, brought an uneasy calm to Haiti a day after protesters paralyzed the capital and tried to storm the presidential palace to demand government action over the cost of food. Some in the poorest country in the Americas warned that unrest could erupt again at any moment.

"To those who are stirring up violence, I order you to stop because it is not going to solve the problem," Preval said. "Poze," said Preval, telling protesters in Creole to "cool it" in a recorded message from the National Palace, which was protected by barbed wire and UN peacekeeping troops backed by trucks and armored personnel carriers. Preval outlined possible subsidies to increase domestic production of staples like rice and other foodstuffs.

His speech came after at least five people were killed during a week of violence triggered by skyrocketing food prices in Haiti, where 80 percent of the population makes do on less than $2 a day and few have full-time jobs. A combination of high fuel prices, rising demand for food in Asia, the use of farmland and crops for biofuels, bad weather and speculation on futures markets have pushed up food prices worldwide. There have been violent outbursts in several poor countries as well as Haiti.

Small groups of protesters returned to the streets of Port-au-Prince early to rebuild barricades taken down by police overnight. Columns of thick black smoke rose from parts of the sprawling city as demonstrators set fire to piles of tires. There were sporadic reports of looting in some areas and many roads were impassable due to the unrest. The city's teeming streets seemed to empty soon after Preval's address. Barricades were cleared and police and UN peacekeepers patrolled silently in many areas. Small groups of defiant demonstrators, still idling about in some areas after Preval spoke, said he offered no immediate solution to the food crisis and people's gnawing hunger.

"President Preval spoke like an observer," said Joasil Monfort, who took part in protests near the presidential palace. "What we want him to do is take action to lower the cost of living," he said. "I think the mobilization (protests) should continue because the president didn't give any direct answer to the urgent situation we're facing now, which is the hunger. It's not in two or three or six months, it's now," said Joseph Tessa, another protester.

"The president is right but I'm not satisfied because I will already have died of hunger if I have to follow his proposal," said a third man, Max Abner. "If there's another demonstration tomorrow I'll be there."

Despite such threats, Preval said his cash-strapped government could ill-afford to bow to demands that it lift all taxes on food imports. The government earlier announced a multimillion-dollar package of investments in agriculture and infrastructure to create jobs and boost food production. "Instead of subsidizing the price of food products coming from abroad, we'd rather subsidize national production. I propose that the price of fertilizer be subsidized by 50 percent and even more," Preval said. "It's not with violence and with easy economic decisions that we will solve the problem of the high cost of living. It is by supporting national production." (Reuters)

9 April - For the second straight day, Haitians erected fiery barricades and tried to storm the National Palace on Tuesday as protests against rising food prices, which have killed five people, paralyzed the capital. Some protesters in the city carried empty plates to show the government they had nothing to eat. U.N. peacekeepers fired rubber bullets and tear gas to control the angry mob after the protesters used large steel garbage containers as battering rams to try to smash the gates of the palace in downtown Port-au-Prince, witnesses said. Several people were injured by rubber bullets, including two local journalists, the witnesses said, adding that troops swarmed the area in armored personnel carriers and trucks, clearing out the protesters. "If the government cannot lower the cost of living it simply has to leave," said protester Renand Alexandre. "If the police and UN troops want to shoot at us, that's OK, because in the end if we are not killed by bullets we'll die of hunger."

Public safety chief Eucher Luc Joseph appeared on national TV to warn that only peaceful protests would be allowed. "We won't tolerate people who are threatening people's lives," he said. "The security forces will act vigorously."

Businesses were shuttered, schools were closed and many residents stayed inside as the demonstrations that began last Wednesday in the southern city of Les Cayes gripped the teeming capital. A man died in gunfire on Monday and four others were killed during a riot in Les Cayes, when an angry mob looted a food warehouse and U.N. peacekeepers were attacked. (Haitian Times)

9 April - According to Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Haiti staff, tension has recently reached boiling point in the northeastern town of Ouanaminthe (Wanament). On 9 April, vehicle tyres were burnt in the streets throughout the town, obliging schools, banks and others to close temporarily to avoid acts of violence and robbery. It appeared that the customs officials were the target of the population’s anger. They were accused of making it difficult to import food items from the Dominican Republic and of being corrupt. One businessman spoke of having his goods stolen by customs officials. In recent times, the northeastern region has lost its capacity to develop agriculture. People have become desperate as the Haitian state does nothing to help the agricultural sector. Haitians prefer to work in neighbouring Dominican Republic rather than farm their small plots of land. Consequently, the region, like many others, is dependent on Dominican imports. (JRS)

4 April - Demonstrators angry over the rising cost of living attacked a UN peacekeeping base Thursday and looted food stores in southern Haiti, UN peacekeepers and Haitian radio said. About 5,000 people demonstrated in the southern peninsula city of Les Cayes, where protesters chanting slogans against President Rene Preval attempted to set the UN police base on fire and stole rice from trucks as Haitian police helplessly stood by. Hundreds more demonstrated in the northwestern port city of Gonaives. UN workers were evacuated to a police base there, though protests in the coastal city remained peaceful. At least one demonstrator was shot in the foot in Les Cayes, but there were no reports of serious injuries. Crowds were under control by late in the day, said UN police spokesman Fred Blaise. Though food prices are rising worldwide, they're a particular problem in Haiti, where 80 percent of the population lives on less than US$2 a day. Rice cost 60 cents at a Port-au-Prince market in January, up 50 percent from a year before. Beans, condensed milk and fruit went up at a similar rate, while spaghetti has doubled. (AP)

MARCH
28 March - In a radio ad sponsored by the UN peacekeeping mission, Grammy Award-winning musician Wyclef Jean is asking his fellow citizens to give up crime and work to improve the country. "If you love Wyclef, that means you love Haiti. So you should not be raping women, kidnapping people and children, because there can be no excuse for doing so," Jean said in Creole in a short ad run several times a day by local stations in Haiti. "I reject these evil practices," said the 35-year-old Jean, who also urged Haitian men to respect and protect women's rights.

Haitian police and UN authorities have noted a rise in crime over the past several weeks and are trying to counter a wave of kidnappings and crimes perpetrated by gangs in the capital and some provincial areas. Official figures show 36 people were kidnapped for ransom in Port-au-Prince during March, and about 30 in February. The number had dropped to fewer than 20 a month.

Fred Blaise, a spokesman for the UN police, said Jean's popularity among Haitians from across the social spectrum may positively influence youngsters involved in crime, and could motivate others to stay out of trouble. "All kinds of Haitians, the good guys as well as the bad guys, have a lot of appreciation for Wyclef for what he represents as a Haitian," Blaise told Reuters on Sunday. (Reuters)

25 March - With growing instability and a surge in crime, the United Nations is calling on the people of Haiti to cooperate with security officials. Officials from the UN mission to Haiti, MINUSTAH, say recent efforts by the national police and UN troops in the country have been stifled by an increasingly dissident population. The United Nations is calling for cooperation from the Haitian people to support the security efforts at roadblocks and other checkpoints set up to try to combat crime and violence, the United Nations reported. Officials say a recent surge in crime including a wave of kidnappings has forced MINUSTAH to step up its logistical and material support for the Haitian national police and has asked for "the population's support so that its blue helmets can help ensure public safety and security," the release said. Michele Montas, a UN spokesperson, says motorized and foot patrols have been increased in an effort to address the problem. (UPI)

12 March - UN and Haitian police have increased checkpoints and launched anti-gang operations to combat a rash of kidnappings in Port-au-Prince, officials said Tuesday. At least 67 people have been kidnapped across Haiti this year, with 12 taken so far in March alone, said UN police spokesman Fred Blaise. Four people were snatched late Friday and early Saturday in Port-au-Prince, including a French national, said Haitian police spokesman Frantz Lerebours. The French Embassy in Port-au-Prince confirmed the kidnapping but declined to release details.

On Monday, police arrested three suspected kidnappers during a daylight raid in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Delmas, Blaise said. The raid caused a panic in the neighborhood and prompted a nearby high school to cancel classes, although the students were never in danger, Radio Kiskeya reported. UN police did not say if any kidnap victims were freed during the raid. (Sun Sentinel)

10 March - Student activists in Port-au-Prince called for an overhaul of the nation's agriculture policies which they say have resulted in Haiti importing more than half of its food while local farmers are mired in poverty. A petition recently submitted to the René Préval government by students of the Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine department at Haiti's State University called for a programme spanning the country's 10 departments to increase technical and expert assistance. The students asked that subsidies be given to the agriculture and fishing sector and egg and chicken-farming projects be promoted to ease reliance on Dominican imports. Other points of the petition deal with strengthening environmental protection, improving access to social services and higher education for agronomy students. In Haiti, 80% of farmers earn less than US$135 a year. (Radio Jamaica)

7 March - In a Haitian dance hall transformed into a temple, dozens of Vodou practitioners dressed all in white, scarves around their necks in red, yellow or green, came Friday to pay homage to their first-ever "supreme master". "Open the barriers," a sole voice intoned in Creole. "The master has arrived," answered the crowd of men and women, as they rose to greet Max Beauvoir, 72.

Until recently, the priests of Vodou, the heavily spirit-focused, African-rooted belief of many Haitians, operated autonomously without a formal hierarchy or rules. But through the associations of followers, they decided to establish a national federation of "Haitian Vodouists" and designate a formal leader. Led by two children who spread about white rose petals on a crimson carpet, Beauvoir paced ahead toward his new throne surrounded by other leaders of Haiti's millions of Vodou adepts. The throne itself is shaped from the trunk of a grand tree, varnished into a piece of art itself.

"We do not want to vie with other religions, but we want to recover our real place in society," said the new supreme master, assuming his responsibility for the public affairs of Haiti's Vodouists. Vodou is hugely popular in Haiti, and practiced at every corner of society. But it has long been on the defensive against mainstream Christian religions. An anthropologist, Beauvoir is well-known to his fellow Vodouists. He has written numerous works about the religion, and is often called upon to defend it for followers in other countries who are often too shy about their beliefs to practice in public. (AFP)

FEBRUARY
29 February - Protesters jammed the streets of Haiti's capital Friday to mark the fourth anniversary of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's ouster, with thousands marching to the presidential palace to demand his return from exile. Supporters climbed hills and crossed bridges over garbage-filled canals in the slums of Port-au-Prince, dancing and singing, “Our blood is the blood of Aristide. We will not betray him!” The peaceful crowd, estimated by police at 5,000, also criticized President Rene Preval and the UN peacekeeping force that has been in place since Aristide's departure, blaming them for rising food prices and rampant unemployment. (AP)

29 February - Haiti's parliament has overwhelmingly rejected a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis, defeating critics angry over his government's handling of the economy. The decision Thursday, which followed an all-day debate in the Chamber of Deputies, was also a victory for President Rene Preval, who survived a serious challenge from the opposition to dismiss his second-in-command and dissolve his Cabinet. But while Preval has brought political stability to the country, the vote reflected rising discontent with his government's failure to create jobs and control rising food prices.

"We can't say that everything is going to be done fast, but we are working," Alexis told legislators during a gruelling question-and-answer session that lasted about 10 hours. "Slowly but surely, we are working."

In the end, only the eight legislators who filed the initial petition for censure and removal voted against the prime minister. Opposition member Isidor Mercier told the chamber moments before the vote that the measure was "based on the cry of distress of the population."

Others who supported the prime minister favored a less drastic government shake up. "We need a new Cabinet with Alexis as prime minister," said Deputy Steven Benoit, a member of Preval's Lespwa Party. Hundreds rallied in support of Alexis in front of the parliament building Thursday afternoon, singing his name and chanting threats against opposition leaders. (AP)

28 February - Seven weeks after the detection of avian flu in the Dominican Republic, Haiti is defending its continued ban on the importation of poultry products from its neighbour. In justifying the blockade, Haiti's Counsel Jean-Baptiste Benin said it was mainly for health reasons, and there was no political reason or economic interest behind the ban. Haitian authorities said they would maintain the embargo until the World Health Organisation confirms that avian flu had been eradicated from the bordering nation. The embargo sparked protests from Dominican producers and exporters. (Radio Jamaica)

22 February - Dozens of sacked Téléco employees demonstrated yesterday, Thursday, in front of the company HG at Pont Morin, Port-au-Prince, to claim compensation from authorities who forced through their dismissal. The demonstrators demanded compensation amounting to thirty-six months' salary. "We have only received 12 months' worth", they said. The demonstration organisers accused the Central Bank governor, and the minister of public works, Frantz Verella, of supporting the head of Téléco, Michel Présumé, in the effort to privatise the company. (Le Nouvelliste)

22 February - Canada will build a new road connecting the isolated town of Jérémie with the rest of the country, using some of the 550 million Canadian dollars it has pledged in aid for the coming years, Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier said Friday. Residents cheered Bernier at the centre of town, which is about a half-hour from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince by plane, but can take most of a day to reach over bad mountain roads or by boat. Canada, Haiti's second-largest donor behind the United States, has pledged C$550 million in aid between 2006 and 2011, including the C$75 million highway project, a revitalized police academy and security installations on the southern coast and the border with the Dominican Republic. (AP)

17 February - The Dominican Republic put its army on alert along the northwest border with Haiti on Sunday as residents of the two nations traded allegations of cross-border incursions, kidnapping and cattle rustling, local media reported. Armed Haitians crossed into the Dominican Republic on Saturday near the community of Dajabon, 175 miles (280 km) northwest of Santo Domingo, and abducted two workmen who were dredging sand in the Massacre River, authorities said. The abduction apparently was in retaliation for an incursion by about 50 armed Dominican cattle farmers who had crossed into Haiti on Friday to claim 16 cows and two horses they alleged had been stolen from them. The Dominican army was reinforced along the border, while civil authorities and soldiers were negotiating with Haitian police, officials told Reuters.

"We trust the Haitian authorities will help us to resolve this problem as soon as possible and that will diminish the tension in the region," said a Dominican official who asked not to be identified. Pedro Jose Suero Rodriguez, president of the Dajabon Association of Cattle Raisers, blamed Haitians for the frequent theft of cattle near the border. "If the army authorities do not guarantee the security of our livestock, we will go to protect them," Suero Rodriguez said. (Reuters)

12 February - Mobs attacked two suspected kidnappers in the capital, stoning one to death, local and UN police said Monday. A man blamed for kidnappings in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville was pummeled with rocks and killed late Saturday by neighbors in the seaside Cite Soleil slum, said Aristide Rosemon, a Haitian police inspector who oversees the area. Witnesses told police that the man, who was thought to work for jailed gang boss Evens Jeune, reportedly fired a gun as stone-wielding residents surrounded him on a dark street. The shots caused no injuries.

Vigilante justice is common in Haiti, as corruption and poor policing often lead citizens to take the law into their own hands. "The people don't believe in the justice system," Rosemon said. "Every time a gang member is arrested, he comes back." Police were not investigating Saturday's lynching, he said.

The mob violence follows a fresh spate of kidnappings, with at least 38 people abducted in Haiti this year, including 15 in the first 11 days of February, UN police spokesman Fred Blaise said. On Sunday, UN and Haitian police rescued a 27-year-old suspected kidnapper from a mob in downtown Port-au-Prince, Blaise said. He said he did not know whether the suspect was still in police custody. (AP)

2 February - Dominican business leaders vowed to suspend activity at a border market catering to Haitians to punish their impoverished neighboring country for banning Dominican poultry. Dominican merchants urged colleagues not to sell products at the bustling Dajabon market next Monday, in retaliation for Haiti’s decision to ban Dominican poultry imports last month after 115 chickens tested positive for a strain of avian flu. Haiti irritated Dominican officials by seeking independent confirmation that the H5N2 strain, which poses no threat to humans, has been eradicated. "We will give them the certification ... along with the paralyzation" of the market, said Freddy Morillo, president of the Dominican Association of Egg Distributors, on Friday. The Dominican town of Dajabon approved a resolution supporting the merchants.

Jolivier Toussaint, director of imports for Haiti’s agriculture ministry, said he was dismayed by the plan to boycott the market, where thousands of Haitians regularly buy food, clothes and other items they can’t find or afford in Haiti. "The way that we do agriculture is a little archaic, so it will create a lot of problems for us," he said. The Dajabon market is a main trading point for both countries, which share the island of Hispaniola. Haiti’s ban on Dominican poultry has inflated prices and caused food shortages in Haiti. Customs officials have seized, burned and buried thousands of eggs, chickens and fighting roosters that Haitian buyers in recent weeks smuggled across the border. (AP)

JANUARY 2008
25 January - The executive director of the provisional electoral council (CEP) resigned Friday, raising concerns that overdue elections for 11 Senate seats will be further delayed. President Rene Preval and the nine-member council met Friday to select a replacement for Jacques Bernard, who was appointed by an interim government in 2005, and was re-appointed when the nine-member council was replaced last December because of fighting and allegations of crime and corruption. No date has been set for the Senate elections, which should have been held in November. A third of Haiti's 30 Senate seats were due to expire this month (and one seat has been vacant for a year after a senator died in a car crash), but Preval extended their terms until the new election process begins. (AP)

21 January - - The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti should form a competent police force in the country, a top UN official said on Monday. Hedi Annabi, the UN assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations, said in Brazilia that one object of the mission in Haiti for the next five years would be raising the number of Haiti's policemen from 8,000 to 14,000. Annabi made the remarks when meeting with Brazilian officials to discuss the planned restructuring of the Brazilian-led peacekeeping force in Haiti. (Xinhua)

21 January - The head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti warned on Monday against an early troop withdrawal and said its reconstruction efforts in the Caribbean nation had limits. The security situation in Haiti has improved significantly since most major gangs were dismantled last year, Hedi Annabi told a news conference in Brasilia. But peace in the impoverished Caribbean nation was fragile, he said. "If we were to downsize dramatically, we would leave a vacuum," said Annabi, who met with Brazilian officials to discuss the planned restructuring of the Brazilian-led force to include more police and fewer soldiers. Haiti has only 8,000 police officers, far short of the estimated 14,000 it needs to maintain minimum security, Annabi said. The multinational force, which is commanded by a Brazilian general, is in the second year of a five-year programme to reform Haiti's police and only beginning to implement judicial reform, Annabi said. The United Nations is likely to renew the force's mandate when it expires in October, the UN envoy said. "We have no desire to stay longer than necessary, but need to ensure we don't have to come again," Annabi said. The 9,000-member UN force includes some 1,200 Brazilians. Brazil has been a strong proponent of economic and social aid programs, from trash removal to vaccination and soil erosion program, but Annabi said there was a limit to the reconstruction work troops could do. "We are not a development agency. At the margin we do everything we can to address most urgent needs, but we do not do development work," he said. (Reuters)

18 January - Earlier this week, Haitian officials banned poultry products coming from the Dominican Republic after 115 chickens from the country tested positive for the bird virus (avian flu). Egg prices in Port-au-Prince jumped 25 percent to more than US$3 a carton, according to news reports. Long lines formed at outdoor markets, and merchants worried their supplies would soon be depleted. The country imports at least 1 million eggs and hundreds of thousands of chickens from the Dominican Republic daily, according to the country's agriculture minister. A bird flu epidemic and food shortages would further stress a population whose health is already compromised. It could also wipe out a means of livelihood for merchants who sell poultry products. (The H5N2 strain found in Haiti is less virulent than the H5N1 strain that has killed 216 people in Asia and other countries.) (Sun Sentinel)

15 January - Haiti must reform its corruption-ridden customs system and encourage investment to lift the country out of poverty, President René Préval said on Monday. In his annual speech before a joint session of parliament, Préval said the country loses badly needed revenue by allowing contraband to infiltrate its borders while charging exorbitant fees to businesses that import merchandise legally. "Nobody is going to come to invest if the rules are not equal for everyone," said Préval, who is nearing the third year of his second, non-consecutive term in office. Préval called for lower taxes on shipping containers, saying that rates up to US$900 (euro604) for a 40-foot container are three times higher than those at ports in the Dominican Republic and competing Central American countries, discouraging investment. (AP)

11 January - Protesters set fire to a government building in the capital's largest slum Friday in an apparent effort to disrupt the inauguration of a US-backed project to help fight crime, witnesses and officials said. A small group of men burned tires outside the entrance to the Cité Soleil mayor's office before bystanders chased them away, according to witnesses. Flames blackened part of the building, but no injuries were reported. The US ambassador and the chief UN envoy to Haiti arrived hours later to launch the "House of Justice" initiative, which will provide conflict resolution services for residents of the oceanside slum.

Cité Soleil assistant mayor Benoit Gustave accused criminals of trying to disrupt the project. "People who are killing, stealing and raping never like legal protection, and as you can see, they were trying to bring it down," he said. But witnesses said they suspected the culprits were opponents of Cité Soleil Mayor Wilson Louis, who has faced accusations of corruption. "These guys knew a lot of important people would be coming today. It's a message that the mayor has to watch out," said Dorsanvil Diufete, a 45-year-old welder who saw the fire being set. (AP)

10 Janaury - At the invitation of Digicel, one of three cellular telephone companies operating in the country and a main sponsor of Haitian soccer, the former English international John Barnes, who played for Liverpool in the English first division, is visiting Haiti. He is looking for talented yonug players in Haiti (and six other Caribbean countires). He will select a total of eight young players who will be invited for trials at Sunderland football club. Barnes is due to arrive in Haiti on Thursday and will stay there for four days. He will pay special attention to the Haiti Under-20 squad which has assembled at the Sylvio Cator stadium in Port-au-Prince this morning. (InfoHaiti.net)

10 January - A ban on poultry imports from the Dominican Republic is causing food shortages in neighboring Haiti, adding to concerns about food prices in this impoverished country. Haitian officials declared the ban this week after 115 Dominican chickens tested positive for a strain of avian flu that, while not a threat to humans, has forced the killing of millions of chickens in Asia.

Egg prices at the market in Port-au-Prince's La Saline district jumped 25 percent to more than US$3 (¤2.05). Long lines snaked around stalls at the outdoor market as buyers and merchants panicked that supplies could soon run out. «What are we going to do now? This is what I make a living from, this is what I use to send my kids to school,» said Chantal Louisius, who normally sells eggs that her husband buys at the Dominican border and carries back to the Haitian capital about 60 kilometers (35 miles) away.

Poor Haitians already are struggling with food prices pushed up by the high oil prices and farm damage from last year's tropical storms. Haiti imports at least 1 million eggs and hundreds of thousands of chickens from the Dominican Republic every day, said Jolivier Toussaint, director of imports for the Haitian agriculture ministry. The outbreak was detected last month in the eastern Dominican Republic when fighting roosters awaiting export to Colombia were tested and found to carry the H5N2 strain of avian flu. (AP)

6 January - After nearly four years working to stabilize Haiti's government, UN peacekeepers in this struggling country are shifting their focus to the border and cracking down on smuggling and human trafficking, the international mission chief said Saturday. Observation points and bases are being built along the Haitian-Dominican border to deter illegal crossers and prevent the exchange of drugs and arms, UN envoy Hedi Annabi said. He visited the 255-mile border on Saturday, stopping at a future UN-run operations base near the main commercial crossing point of Malpasse, the closest entry point to the Haitian capital.

"Everybody knows the border is out of control. We don't have the resources or infrastructure to manage it," Haiti's customs chief Jean-Jacques Valentin said while touring the area with the UN delegation. Since being deployed after a February 2004 uprising that ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the 7,800-strong UN force has helped rebuild Haiti's government and suppressed violent gangs in the capital. Now, about 120 soldiers will be stationed at four bases along the porous border. Three have been completed. The fourth, planned for Malpasse, will be finished in a month, Annabi said. A Jordanian platoon will use it to coordinate operations and monitor the brush-covered mountains and saltwater Lake Azuei, which is popular with smugglers. From the planned base, "you can control the breadth of the lake and make sure nobody is coming across that shouldn't be coming across, and you can also control the road," Annabi told The Associated Press. Haitian authorities will take over the bases when the UN mission ends. (AP)