Image copyright AFP Image caption A small contingent of Brazilian troops will remain in Haiti until the UN mission ends in October

Haiti's government has launched a campaign to re-establish its army, dissolved more than 20 years ago.

It wants to recruit about 500 men and women to help deal with natural disasters and to patrol borders.

The recruitment drive follows the announcement by the United Nations mission that it would be leaving Haiti in October.

But critics say the island's small budget should be spent on the national police force of about 15,000 officers.

A Ministry of Defence statement said the recruitment drive is open to both men and women between the ages of 18 and 25, who have passed their secondary education exams.

The UN Security Council agreed in April to withdraw their security forces, the blue helmets, and leave only a small police presence to support the Haitian police.

The UN departure has sparked a debate over whether Haiti should or should not form a new army.

Many politicians support the idea arguing it would provide jobs for young people.

But the government's critics say a military force could quickly become politicised, becoming a weapon in the hands of whoever is the president or prime minister.

For much of Haiti's history, the army has been used to crack down on political dissent by a series of authoritarian presidents.

During the 29-year family dynasty founded by Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier in the 1950s, the army was pushed aside and replaced by the Tonton Macoutes, a feared private militia famed for its savagery.

But when Duvalier's son, Jean Claude, was ousted and fled to France in 1986, the army high command - notorious for its repressive tactics and packed with Duvalier appointees - remained in place.

Image copyright UN Image caption The UN mission played a big role in helping the country to overcome the devastation caused by the 2010 earthquake

After Haiti's first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was ousted in a 1991 military coup, soldiers and paramilitary forces committed countless atrocities and are estimated to have killed about 4,000 people over the next three years.

Haiti's leaders argue the new army would have different kinds of military duties, providing help after natural disasters and fighting smuggling.

Many international donors have been unenthusiastic, after having poured billions of dollars into developing the Haitian National Police which now has about 15,000 trained members. </s> US extends Haitians’ Temporary Protected Status for another 6 months

Washington, May 22 (EFE).- The US government announced Monday a six-month extension of the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for more than 58,000 Haitians who fled their country following the devastating earthquake of 2010.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had until this Tuesday to announce the extension, which means that Haitians now accepted for the program will have 60 days to present the required documents to avoid having to leave the country next July 23, when the new interim protection expires.

Immigrant defenders have pressured Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to extend the Temporary Protected Status on grounds that Haiti suffers a food shortage, unemployment and widespread poverty, and is incapable of repatriating thousands of its citizens.

Secretary Kelly said that “after careful review of the current conditions in Haiti and conversations with the Haitian government, I have decided to extend the designation of Haiti for Temporary Protected Status for a limited period of six-months.”

DHS officials said Kelly had obtained the commitment of Haitian authorities that, when conditions permit, Haitian citizens who now enjoy that protection will be accepted back to their country in order to help with its reconstruction.

“We plan to continue to work closely with the Haitian government, including assisting the government in proactively providing travel documents for its citizens,” Kelly said.

“I believe there are indications that Haiti – if its recovery from the 2010 earthquake continues at pace – may not warrant further TPS extension past January 2018,” he said

Though this is an extension of just six months instead of the usual 18, the decision shows a softer touch than the hard-fisted immigration policy of US President Donald Trump, as expressed in his electoral campaign rhetoric.

The US government offered TPS for Haitians after the powerful quake on Jan. 12, 2010, which left thousands dead.

The unfortunate Caribbean nation also suffered a cholera epidemic that spread to almost 800,000 citizens and left 9,000 dead. </s> Haiti’s man in Washington, an ambassador with seven years under his belt defending his country’s image, has been recalled.

At a time when Haiti is facing critical issues that need representation before the Trump administration, Paul Altidor, received a letter on Tuesday informing him that his services will no longer be needed. The recall was effective immediately.

“We accomplished a lot here at the embassy,” Altidor said.

He took Haiti’s diplomatic mission on Embassy Row in Washington from a place where Haitians only went to get passports and resolve document issues, to a cultural hotspot where visitors can bask in Haitian culture from art to cooking to artistry.

Altidor, 45, had submitted his resignation to President Jovenel Moïse a year ago. But the president had asked him to stay on, and in recent days had found himself fielding calls from concerned U.S. lawmakers and their staffers about the ongoing violent demonstrations that have rattled Haitians and paralyzed major cities.

Since Thursday, thousands of Haitians have taken to the streets in Port-au-Prince and other cities throughout the impoverished country to protest against skyrocketing prices, double-digit inflation, currency devaluation and corruption. In their anger and frustration, they’ve lashed out at businesses and demanded the resignation of Moïse, who has insisted that his five-year presidential mandate is not up for debate.

On the same day that Altidor received his recall letter Tuesday, protesters burned a popular Port-au-Prince street market and looted stores while 78 prisoners broke out of jail in a small southern town. The European Union mission, concerned about the ongoing unrest, hired a charter to fly dependents to the neighboring Dominican Republic.

Meanwhile, the 15-member Caribbean Community, which Haiti is a member of, appealed to all to engage in constructive dialogue and to respect the Constitution, the rule of law and democratic processes so that issues can be resolved in a peaceful atmosphere. It also called for a cessation of the violence to allow for the return to a state of normalcy.

It was the sixth day of what’s being dubbed, “Operation lock down Haiti,” in which the opposition has vowed to keep the country locked until Moïse resigns.

So far, it has succeeded in shutting down schools, businesses and public transportation, and halting activities across Haiti where roads have been barricades with burning tires, tree branches and rocks.

“The timing is very strange. He’s embattled down here, why would he do this? It begs the question why,” Georges Sassine, president of the Association of Haitian Industries said about Moïse, who has yet to address his nation since the violence broke out. “You don’t change a horse in the middle of crossing a river.”

Adding to those concerns is that the recall comes just days before Haiti Foreign Minister Edmond Bocchit is scheduled to meet with Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton.

Bocchit, who last week visited the Center for Strategic and International Studies and State Department with influential Haitian businessman Andy Apaid, has been seeking out support for the Moïse administration in Washington ever since Haiti agreed to broke with longtime ally Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and recognize acting opposition leader Juan Guaidó as president.

civil society movement that forced the ouster of president Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power in 2004 amid a bloody revolt.

A former adviser for the World Bank’s International Financial Corporation and vice president of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, Altidor came into the ambassador’s role with no public diplomacy experience during president Michel Martelly’s administration.

Determined to change the narrative of his crisis-plagued country, he opened up the embassy to congressional lawmakers, fellow ambassadors and Haitians. Among those who have visited the mission: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Georgia Democrat Rep. John Lewis and media executive and entrepreneur Cathy Hughes of Radio One.

“We opened the embassy up to the outside public,” Altidor said, noting that instead of going to meet members of Congress on Capitol Hill, they often came to him. And very often these meetings were held not in the top floor office, but in the bottom-floor kitchen where Altidor often invited lawmakers to join him in a meal of Haitian cuisine as they discussed topics relevant to Haiti.

One memorable meeting occurred in September 2017 as the Trump administration weighed whether to extend Temporary Protected Status, TPS, for Haitians. In between meetings with U.S Department of Homeland Security officials and immigration advocates, Altidor hosted an intimate dinner for about a half dozen Democratic lawmakers to craft a new strategy he hoped would convince the White House to extend the temporary program that has allowed thousands of Haitians to work and live in the U.S..

The strategy didn’t work, but the dinner accomplished something else.

“We have institutions coming to our doors, people who would not be otherwise interested in Haiti,” said Altidor, a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who also pursued graduate studies in law and economics at the University of Paris X, in France.

In January 2018, Altidor was in the U.S. spotlight again when it was reported that Trump referred to Haiti and other African nations as “shithole countries.” He was the first and only Haitian government official to respond to the remark, saying he vehemently condemned it and would use the publicity to continue to introduce a new narrative around Haiti.

That narrative has involved getting Americans to see Haiti as a country that is capable of luring investments, and to see Haitians as hard workers who contribute to the fabric of America. No longer did Altidor want Haiti to be viewed in university circles as a place where college students can just do charitable work.

“I made a point to ensure that the U.S community get a glance of the Haitian package, not just some of the bad things like we are seeing right now,” he said, “but from the the history to the culture. Folks should know about that. And we’ve made significance progress.”

Still his efforts weren’t always appreciated. Critics accused him of spending too much time on community relations rather than diplomacy while lobbyists and want-to-be lobbyists, sometimes went around him as they escorted Haitian government officials and parliamentarians to meetings on Capitol Hill and at the State Department. The move often created confusion over who was speaking on behalf of the government.

Even DHS officials once questioned Altidor’s credentials, insisting that he was speaking more on behalf the Haitian diaspora rather than the government when pushed for TPS renewal on behalf of Haitians in the United States. He went as far as writing a letter on behalf of the Moïse administration when Port-au-Prince refused to do so even at the insistence of the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince.

Altidor, who points his embassy’s 24-hour turnaround for Haitian passports, among his accomplishments, said he’s proud of the fact that he’s managed to generate conversations around non-political issues that he felt needed to be addressed.

“The embassy became a relevant institution in the Haitian conversation in Washington D.C. and beyond,” he said. </s> PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Canada warned its citizens on Friday to avoid all travel to Haiti, citing over a week of violent protests that have called for President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti to resign, despite his promise of economic measures to quell the demonstrations.

Citing civil unrest throughout the country, Canada’s government warned that the security situation there “could deteriorate quickly” and urged its citizens to consider leaving. A day earlier, the United States issued its own travel advisory.

Late Thursday, President Moïse said during a televised address that he would not surrender the country to armed gangs and drug dealers, and he accused people of freeing prisoners to kill him. It was the first time he had spoken since the demonstrations began, and he made another call for dialogue with the opposition.

“I heard the voice of the people. I know the problems that torment them. That’s why the government has taken a lot of measures,” he said. “I asked the prime minister to come and explain them and implement them without delay in order to relieve misery.” </s> Haitian President Jovenel Moïse broke his silence on Thursday evening, after a week of violent demonstrations.

Moïse spoke in the aftermath of violent clashes between police and protesters in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

“I will not leave the country in the hands of armed gangs and drug traffickers,’‘ he said.

The Haitian president says his government is listening to the cries of the people.

‘‘We are listening to the people and a package of measures has been taken by the government. I asked the Prime Minister to come and explain them and apply them quickly to relieve our misery”, Moïse added.

The United States has recalled its non-essential diplomats and their families out of the country while urging its citizens not to go to the country.

Since February 7, anti-government protesters have been calling for the resignation of President Jovenel Moïse.

At least 7 people have been killed during protests over social inequalities, aggravated by alleged systemic corruption. </s> Jack Guy Lafontant, Haiti's embattled prime minister, has announced his resignation following days of violent protests sparked by a now-abandoned plan to raise fuel prices.

"I submitted my resignation to the president of the republic", who has "accepted my resignation", Lafontant said on Saturday in the lower house of Haiti's legislature.

Haiti's parliament was debating a vote of no-confidence against Lafontant.

The unrest started after the government unveiled a proposal to eliminate fuel subsidies which in turn would have hiked fuel prices: 38 percent for gasoline, 47 percent for diesel and 51 percent for kerosene.

The announcement sparked mass protests, with streets in the capital, Port-au-Prince, and other cities blocked with barricades of debris and burning tires.

At least seven people were killed and dozens of businesses were looted or destroyed during three days of demonstrations.

Lafontant, who took office in February 2017, later announced the plan would not go ahead, but protesters still demanded his resignation.

Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from Port-au-Prince, said the parliament had been debating whether to give or not Lafontant a vote of confidence for more than three hours.

In his speech to parliament, the prime minister defended his government but then said he had sent President Jovenel Moise his resignation letter, added our correspondent.

"Essentially right now," added Elizondo, "the country of Haiti now has no current functioning government ... The next step will be that the president as well as the two heads of parliament will decide the next prime minister of Haiti." </s> Joined by local gang members, police went house to house with long guns and machetes, pulling out unarmed people and killing them with guns or machete, witnesses said. Witnesses, a human-rights group and a charity that collected bodies after the Nov. 13 massacre said that at least 21 men were slain.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — When a police truck carrying men in uniform pulled into an impoverished neighborhood in the Haitian capital, residents thought it was an official operation.

Maybe police were finally trying to head off a war between the gangs that run protection rackets in the market next to the sprawling collection of cinderblock shacks and low-rise public housing.

Then the men opened fire. Joined by local gang members clad in black, they went house to house with long guns and machetes, pulling unarmed people into the narrow alleys and killing them with single shots or machete blows, witnesses told The Associated Press.

“When I saw them I thought they were providing security but then I realized they were shooting at the population,” said 55-year-old resident Marie-Lourdes Corestan. “They were shooting, and I was running to save my life.”

Witnesses, a human-rights group and a Catholic charity that collected bodies after the Nov. 13 massacre told The Associated Press that at least 21 men were slain over a 24-hour period in the La Saline neighborhood.

Some residents and local rights groups say the killers were gang members working with corrupt police to seize territory in the La Saline gang war. But others accuse Haitian government officials of orchestrating the massacre to head off anti-corruption protests that often start in the neighborhood, an opposition stronghold.

What’s certain is that the killings reveal a startling erosion of security in Haiti since U.N. peacekeepers ended their 13-year mandate in October 2017 because conditions on the island had supposedly improved.

Port-au-Prince residents interviewed by the AP said the number of neighborhoods in the capital considered “no-go” zones controlled by armed gangs has grown to at least half a dozen since the departure of the heavily armed U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

“These lawless zones are multiplying,” said Marie-Yolene Gilles, head of a local rights group, Fondasyon Je Klere, which put the death toll as high as 25.

“The authorities have said nothing,” Gilles said. “They haven’t even condemned this massacre.”

The U.N. force was sent to Haiti in 2004 after the overthrow of President Bertrand Aristide. It was replaced in 2017 by a smaller U.N. mission that has continued a police training program that has helped boost the number of Haitian officers from less than 4,000 during Aristide’s time to more than 15,000 today.

The police, however, are widely seen as corrupt, inefficient and ill-equipped to take on heavily armed gangs that often serve as enforcers of Haiti’s fragmented political forces.

U.N. officials said they expect to complete an investigation into the killings within weeks.

“There were worrying episodes of violence in some of the most notorious neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, areas where state authority is limited,” Helen Meagher La Lime, head of the U.N. Mission for Justice Support in Haiti, which replaced the U.N. peacekeeping force, told the U.N. Security Council last month. “Investigations by both the authorities and human-rights organizations are ongoing, and our human-rights service is also working to determine what happened.”

Thousands of people live in La Saline, many working in the neighboring market that sprawls for more than a mile and where vendors sell everything from produce trucked in from the countryside to used clothing imported from South Florida.

Residents live in cinderblock homes with sheet metal roofs, many barely big enough to hold a single mattress. They cook over open fires in alleyways so narrow that two people can’t pass without touching shoulders.

Gangs of armed young men control the neighborhood, often pulling out pistols to resolve local squabbles. The gangs’ main income comes from protection payments from market vendors and importers anxious to keep the road to a nearby port open, making control of La Saline a valuable franchise.

Armed gangs have bought or stolen untold amounts of Haitian police gear in recent years, so the degree of official involvement in the La Saline massacre remains unclear.

National Police chief Michel-Ange Gedeon said an investigation into the killings points to a gang fight, and he had suspended two officers accused by local civil rights groups of involvement in the massacre.

“If there are police involved with gangs, we are going to fire them,” he said. “If they are involved in human-rights violations we will turn them over to justice.”

One of the officers, Gregory Antoine, was gunned down last week in a crime blamed on rival gangsters, family members told a local radio station.

The office of President Jovenel Moise did not respond to AP requests for comment.

Joel Noel, a 28-year-old who describes himself as a community leader, said the armed men arrived in a truck marked with the insignia of a special tactical police unit trained by the U.N. and begun under former President Michel Martelly, a Moise ally.

Corestan said some wore ski masks and carried machetes when they descended on the neighborhood at 3 p.m.

She said she ran for her life when the attack began, leaving behind her 24-year-old son Edaud-Pierre, an aspiring DJ, who was unarmed and practicing mixing songs. She said neighbors told her the armed men killed him in cold blood.

There are two police stations in La Saline and the surrounding area, but witnesses said neither sent officers to intervene.

Gedeon, the police chief, said officers arrived after nightfall and surrounded the area but were unable to move in because it was dark. Police have since made one arrest in the case, he said.

Morelle Lendor, a 33-year-old street vendor, said she was hiding in her shack with a man she knew only as Wuanito when two men knocked on the door.

She recognized them as gang members from an adjoining neighborhood, wearing unmarked black uniforms, black caps and carrying long guns.

She said they grabbed Wuanito, who was unarmed, and killed him with a single shot. Three weeks later, the bloodstain remained on the wall of her shack.

Another resident, Miliana Louis, said her 22-year-old son James was killed by machete blows.

“The majority of people who died were innocent people,” said Raphael Louigene, a social worker at Fondation St. Luc, a Catholic charity that works in the slums of Port-au-Prince.

He said that he and two clergy members collected 21 sets of male remains from the streets of La Saline in the days after the massacre, when neither police nor judiciary officials would enter the neighborhood. He said the victims had been shot or hacked with machetes and only eight full bodies were recovered because most had been burned or fed to pigs.

Residents said at least one woman may also have been among the victims. Belande Louis, 33, said her 28-year-old sister Sandra disappeared on Nov. 13 and neighbors said she was killed by men with machetes.

Louigene said the massacre appeared to result from a fight over the right to extort marketplace merchants after one gang pushed out another.

“The group that was kicked out came back seeking revenge,” Louigene said. “The police don’t have the means to confront the gang guys.”

For some in La Saline, the explanation is more sinister.

President Moise faces widespread discontent over his failure to pursue allegations that his ally, former president Martelly, embezzled more than $2 billion in proceeds from a Venezuelan program providing the Haitian government with heavily discounted oil that it resold at a hefty profit.

La Saline is a longtime rallying point for anti-government protests and the massacre occurred four days before long-planned nationwide protests over the corruption allegations.

Some residents and local rights groups accused Haitian government officials of orchestrating the attack by a rival gang to intimidate La Saline residents and prevent protests.

“This is a political fight, said Noel, the local leader. “After they had control of the area, they went into people’s homes and took them out and executed them.”

Associated Press writer Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report. </s> As “Operation lock down Haiti” marked its fifth day Monday, the country’s leading business chambers called on Haitian President Jovenel Moïse to come to the negotiating table in order to end violent demonstrations that have left at least eight people dead, a dozen injured and businesses pillaged and burned.

The head of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the departmental chambers that constitute it, said they are not asking for Moïse to resign. But Moïse’s departure from office and that of his prime minister, Jean Henry Céant , or the presidents of both the Senate and Lower Chamber of Deputies, should not be off limits in discussions with the opposition “in order to have peace so the people can return to their homes,” said Frantz Bernard Craan.

“We need the president, the prime minister and the presidents of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies to ask the different parties of the opposition to come to the table of negotiations, but agree that their mandate is on the table and all of the conclusions will be accepted,” Craan added.

“We feel that people do not trust Jovenel Moïse to respect his word. So if he takes a public commitment to do what we’re asking, it may create the atmosphere necessary to have the negotiations,” he said. “We’re also asking for a board of wise persons to be named by different segments of society to conduct the negotiations because we don’t feel any of the actual authorities have enough legitimacy to conduct those negotiations.”

Since Thursday, violent demonstrations have shut down schools, businesses, public transport and other activities in cities across Haiti, leading the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince to consider ordering departure for children of American diplomats, and some staffers.

“The safety and security of our personnel and their families is our top priority. We are monitoring the security situation in real time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” said a State Department spokesperson for Western Hemisphere Affairs, who declined to confirm if the embassy had requested the departures. “We are prepared to do the things we need to do to make sure we keep our people safe.”

The latest protests have been triggered by frustrations over the country’s double-digit inflation, skyrocketing prices, and a domestic currency in a free fall against the U.S. dollar. Haitians are also upset by years of government ineptness and mismanagement that has triggered an audit of nearly $2 billion in funds from Venezuela’s PetroCaribe discount oil program that was supposed to be invested in social programs.

In the face of the social demands, the government has remained silent, though presidential advisers made the radio rounds on Monday defending Moïse and resisting demands for his resignation. On Sunday, the international community broke its silence and called on Haiti’s political actors “to engage in a constructive and inclusive dialogue in order to identify and implement realistic and lasting solutions to the political and economic crisis.” It also reminded Haitian citizens that “in a democracy change must come through the ballot box, and not through violence.”

The communique was met with almost immediate backlash from the opposition. While some pointed out that the U.S. and others recently chose to recognize Juan Guaidó, the president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, as the country’s acting president over Nicolás Maduro, a position that Haiti also supported, others noted that elections have seldom brought stability to Haiti.

“We would like to remind the friends of Haiti that what’s happening here is in part the result of their work,” a group of political parties demanding Moïse’s resignation and the protests said in a statement. “It’s the failure of a strategy that lies in making decisions on behalf of Haiti behind the Haitian people’s back every time that there is a feud inside the country; the strategy of giving orders to leaders that were installed through shady elections. It’s that formula that has brought this system to life that excludes the masses.“

Georges Sassine, president of the Association of Haitian Industries, a grouping of Haiti’s manufacturing companies, said something needs to be done.

“If we let the streets decide, we are going to all be carried away like a tsunami wave,” he said.

On Monday, as scores of protesters marched through Cité Soleil and Kenscoff, along Delmas road it was chaos as a police officer was shot and protesters looted businesses and four bandits tried to pillage a bank before being arrested. Further north in the city of St. Marc, no cars could enter or leave the city, which protesters had on lock down. Some even tried to burn down the mayor’s office, said assistant mayor Frantz Ulysse. Ulysse said he supports the protesters and their demands.

The escalating violence is worrisome, said Craan.

“The situation is heading toward a catastrophe,” he said. “People are in the streets. Thugs are attacking businesses, gas stations are burning, tires are burning in the streets, people are setting up road blocks and asking people to pay to go through. This is not acceptable. The police, even though they are trying, do not have the means to control what we see coming.

“All of the authorities need to make the sacrifice to pacify the population which is struggling, and justifiably angry, because they are facing a difficult economic situation and they need the authorities to take the right steps. Until now the steps have not been taken.” </s> At least six people have died in nearly weeklong protests demanding that President Jovenel Moise resign in Haiti, which saw fresh tensions and a major prison break Tuesday.

All 78 detainees at the prison in Aquin, a city of around 100,000 on the south coast of the country's Tiburon Peninsula, escaped around midday, a national police spokesman said.

The exact circumstances of the prison break are unclear, but witnesses said it took place during an anti-Moise demonstration in front of the police station adjoining the penitentiary.

Some 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of the prison, Port-au-Prince also saw clashes between police and hundreds of protesters in working-class neighborhoods.

Thousands of people took to the streets. After police forces dispersed them, some set fire to cars and looted stores to express their mounting frustrations over growing social inequalities worsened by systemic corruption.

A youth was also shot dead at a crossroads near the presidential palace.

The former French colony is in the grip of a political crisis that has seen citizens demonstrate in the capital Port-au-Prince and elsewhere over the last week to demand Moise's resignation.

Barricades have sprung up in some areas of the capital and other cities, with protesters demanding the president answer reports of mismanagement and possible embezzlement of development funds in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

Police only provided a toll after the first day of nationwide protests on February 7, with two killed on the sidelines of the marches. Since then, AFP has counted four other people shot dead.

Amid the degradation in security conditions, the US State Department ordered all minor children of diplomats posted at the American embassy in Haiti to leave the country.

In a statement, the agency also "approved the authorized departure of adult family members and non-emergency US personnel."

Prison conditions in Haiti are considered to be among the most inhumane in the world by human rights groups. Detainees face extremely crowded conditions, poor hygiene, food shortages and a lack of health care.

The justice system is notoriously slow and has been blamed for contributing to the crisis.

In October, an investigation found that three quarters of the 11,839 people imprisoned in Haiti were still waiting for a court ruling -- a delay that has sometimes stretched beyond a decade.

Demonstrators are demanding Moise quit over a scandal centering on the Petrocaribe fund, under which Venezuela supplied Haiti and other Caribbean and Central American countries with oil at cut-rate prices and on easy credit terms for years.

"The president lied to us. These promises of giving us work so we can finally have money to buy food was just bluffing," said Vanel Louis-Paul, who joined protesters demanding change.

"Look, he's been in power for two years and people are starving now more than ever. If Jovenel won't go, we will make the bourgeoisie that supported him suffer so it understands."

Adding to the mounting frustration, investigations have shown that nearly $2 billion from the program were misused.

A report released in January on the misuse of the money also named a company that was then headed by Moise as a beneficiary of funds from a road construction project that never had a signed contract.

During his election campaign, Moise promised "food on every plate and money in every pocket," yet most Haitians still struggle to make ends meet and face inflation that has risen 15 percent since his election.

A mediation group composed of a senior officials from the UN, Brazil and a coalition of Western nations has called on Haiti's politicians to enter dialogue over the crisis, lamenting the loss of life and damage caused by the protests.

While the government has offered no response to the demands of demonstrators, opposition groups have also failed to spell out any concrete solution to the crisis, beyond calling for the president to step aside.
Haiti will reinstate its armed forces after 20 years of having none.