HAVANA, March 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Haiti's new Prime Minister Gerard Latortue arrived Wednesday at Haitian capital Port-au-Prince and called on "all Haitians" to reconstruct the country.

    Latortue, 69, arrived at the capital's airport at 04:30 pm local time with Herard Abraham, former commander-in-chief of the Army, reports from Port-au-Prince said.

    The new prime minister lived in Miami, the United States before he returned to take the post of prime minister. He spent most of his professional life abroad. Enditem

New prime minister to form wide government in Haiti

    HAVANA, March 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Haiti's new Prime Minister Gerard Latortue announced Wednesday he is to appoint a widely representative government by the weekend to tide over the country's crisis, reports reaching here said.

    Latortue is expected to arrive at the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince Wednesday. He said that his government's most urgent task was to restore security in the face of violence and lootings thatpersist in some areas of Haiti, especially in the capital.

    In a radio interview in Miami, Florida, where he currently lives, the prime minister said that upon his arrival at Haiti, he would get in touch with the council "of wise men" that elected himTuesday.

    Latortue, who is to replace Yvon Neptune, the prime minister under the deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, favors elections to choose a new president.

    The future prime minister is to seek the assistance of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to foster the development in the strife-torn nation.

    He anticipated he would contact the two other candidates for the post he currently holds, namely former army commander Herard Abraham and the businessman Smark Michel, prime minister from 1994to 1995 during Aristide's government.

    An opponent of Aristide, Latortue, a 69-year-old French-educated economist and lawyer, served as foreign minister of former President Leslie Manigat's government, and a UN official stationed in Africa as well as a consultant of several companies in Miami. Enditem

Haiti awaits arrival of new prime minister from US

    HAVANA, March 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Haiti on Wednesday expected the arrival of the new Prime Minister Gerard Latourte, who is due to come from his current residence in Miami, the United States, said reports reaching here from Haitian capital Port-au-Prince.

    Latortue, picked Tuesday by the council of "wise men", announced from Florida the priorities of his mandate in Haiti was to form a new cabinet and assume responsibility for the police, the only armed corps of the Caribbean country.

    He pledged to form in the following days a government of national reconciliation with the possible inclusion of several members of the ruling Lavalas Family Party, led by the deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

    Although his term will be brief and only to last until earlier legislative and presidential elections are held, Latourte said he considered the resolution of the crisis in Haiti would take years and not just months.

    Latortue served as foreign minister in 1988 to former PresidentLeslie Manigat, and left Haiti the same year after Manigat was toppled in a coups by Haiti's military. He has been living in Florida, the US since then, working as a business consultant.

    He is presently the secretary general to the Association of Caribbean Universities and Research Centers based in Puerto Rico. Enditem