MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Haiti's Congress sacks Prime Minister over food riots

Haiti Parliament voted on Saturday to oust Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis following widespread anger over rising food prices that led to days of deadly protests and looting.

President Rene Preval, who earlier in the day announced plans to cut the price of rice and other staples, said he would seek a replacement for PM Alexis, who took office in 2006. After Alexis dismissal, a UN Nigerian soldier was shot and killed in Port-au-Prince, mission spokeswoman Sophie Boutaud de la Combe said. However UN troops did not exchange fire with anyone after the shooting, de la Combe said. The soldier was a member of a 1.000-strong unit that deals with riots. Opposition Senator Gabriel Fortune said that 16 out of 27 Senators voted to oust the Prime Minister reflecting the extended frustration with the rising cost of living in Latinamerica poorest and fractious country. Last February Alexis had survived a "no confidence" vote for his handling of the economy. Besides rice, milk and eggs will also be subsidized in an attempt to contain food prices which last week left five killed and dozens injured. Robert Fatton, a Haiti expert at the University of Virginia, said a leadership change without much delay could help Preval create a government with more legitimacy. Without a Haitian army to challenge him and with the backing of the international community, Preval is likely to remain in power despite recent unrest, Fatton said. But Eduardo Gamarra, director 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 Preval. The prime minister's ouster reflects frustration over soaring food prices in a nation where most people live on less than 2 US dollars per day while chronic hunger had become unbearable in recent months. Globally, food prices have risen 40% since mid-2007. Haiti is particularly affected because it imports nearly all of its food, including more than 80% of its rice. United Nations, FAO and the World Bank have Haiti in the short list of the most vulnerable countries to rioting because of soaring world food prices. Much of its once-productive farmland has been abandoned as farmers struggle to grow crops in soil devastated by erosion, deforestation, flooding and tropical storms.