Haiti government falls after rice riots
Sixteen of 17 senators at a special session on Saturday voted against Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis, an ally President Rene Preval placed at the head of a coalition cabinet in June 2006 that was meant to unite the fractious Caribbean nation.
The move by opposition senators was seen as a serious but not crushing blow to Preval, whose 2006 election brought a measure of calm to the poorest country in the Americas as it searched for political stability after decades of dictatorship, military rule and economic mayhem.
The clash with senators came after the president of the country of 9 million people - most of whom earn less than $US2 a day - managed to persuade rioters to end a week of violence in which at least five people were killed.
Stone-throwing crowds began battling UN peacekeepers and Haitian police in the south on April 2, enraged at the soaring cost of rice, beans, cooking oil and other staples.
Many Haitians seemed to welcome the ouster of Alexis.
%26quot;When he was prime minister, he did nothing to lower the high cost of living. I hope things will change with a new prime minister,%26quot; said Jean Pierre Jean-Baptiste, 29, an electrician.
Sen. Youri Latortue, a nephew of a former prime minister and leader of Saturday%26#39;s vote, said Alexis had failed to ramp up food production, protect people against crime, heed calls to establish a new national security force and set a deadline for the UN troops to leave.
Disturbances over high food prices have broken out in several poor countries, primarily in Africa. Record oil prices, rising demand for food in Asia, the use of farmland and crops for biofuels and other factors such as market speculation have pushed up food prices worldwide.
