Haiti Prime Minister Fired Over Food Crisis

ANCHOR:
And the crisis continues in Haiti over soaring food prices. Over the weekend, the Haitian Senate voted to oust the country's Prime Minister, and one U.N. peacekeeper was shot dead. Here's more:

STORY:
Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis is the first political victim of the week long riots in Haiti. 16 out of 17 senators voted to fire him in a special session on Saturday, in spite a of a new government plan to reduce rice prices.

Senator Rudolph Goezil said they were quote "Responding to the call of the people."

Meanwhile, on the same day and in the same city, a U.N. peacekeeper from Nigeria was shot dead. A Haitian police officer, who did not want to be named, said the peacekeeper was shot near the city's main Catholic cathedral.

At least five people died last week during the riots over food prices, but the capital had been relatively calm since last Wednesday, when President Rene Preval called on the rioters to stop.

The President's new plan will lower the price of a sack of rice $8 dollars, from $51 to $43, but he said he would not lower taxes on food because they need that money for long-term projects.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ntd
• haiti
• prime
• minister
• food
• crisis
• senate
• jacques
• edouard
• alexis
• riots
• rudolph
• goezil

[lucy9359]

@ofInterestNZ ...for a bag of rice here in Canada it would be roughly $9 but that is a very small bag of rice like two meals for a family of 3 small children. We spend now $30 a day for food our dollar is devalued by our government on purpose so it will be cheaper than American dollar by a few cents or they won't trade with us but it is worth by far more than their dollar for real...

[gonaive]

importing food started on Duvalier...papa doc, when he had all the pigs killed in the country, so he could profit from imported pork...then came the rice and so on...blame the pass government, not its people, as we know they have no saying in what goes on in haiti.

[clnmike]

Haiti shot it's self in the foot when they bowed to international pressure allowing imported cheap rice in whith no safe gaurds to their own farmers allowing them to be run out of buisness.

[jeanjeudy]

Preval is a thief, he needs to be arrested and put in trial for incompetence

[ofInterestNZ]

Meanwhile internationally traded rice prices hit fresh record highs over US$1,000 a tonne overnight after a range of Asian countries, including Vietnam, India, China, and Indonesia either banned or restricted rice exports, causing panic on global markets. The price of rice has risen nearly 50% in the last month.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which is expected to announce next week it will keep rates on hold for now, has said it is watching the Asian growth and inflation outlook closely.