PM calls for peace on Haiti’s first day with no president
REUTERS- Protesting Haitians should end weeks of sometimes violent street marches and join a dialogue to create a transitional government, Prime Minister Evans Paul said on Monday, during his first day as the temporary head of the troubled Caribbean nation.
Paul was prime minister under former President Michel Martelly, who left office on Sunday without an elected successor after a botched election saw a second round of voting canceled due to the protests.
Under an 11th-hour agreement at the weekend, Paul will stay in office until parliament chooses an interim president.
UN chief urges Haiti to pick new government
AFP- UN chief Ban Ki-moon yesterday welcomed Haiti’s agreement on a transitional government as President Michel Martelly left office without a successor, and Ban urged parties to implement the deal.
The agreement, signed late Saturday by the presidents of both chambers of the national assembly, keeps the country from plunging into an immediate power vacuum on Martelly’s exit, after an election to choose his replacement was postponed over fears of violence.
“The agreement is in the spirit of the Haitian Constitution,” Ban’s spokesman said, adding that the UN secretary-general urged “all actors concerned to implement it in order to ensure the democratic transfer of power to elected officials.”
Ban “encourages all actors to promote measures aimed at fostering calm and stability (and) reaffirms the commitment of the United Nations to extend its full support to the Haitian people in the fulfillment of their democratic aspirations,” the statement added.
A runoff between Martelly’s favoured candidate, Jovenel Moise, and opposition flag-bearer Jude Celestin, was called off following violence and opposition protests by demonstrators alleging that foul play had helped the government candidate take the first round.