Foreign minister nominated as Haiti's PM

Port-au-Prince - Haitian President Michel Martelly nominated his foreign minister and close adviser, Laurent Lamothe, as prime minister on Thursday, raising hopes of a swift end to the country's political vacuum.

The news came barely a week after the previous prime minister, Garry Conille, resigned after only four months on the job. Conille fell out with Martelly over a parliamentary inquiry into government contracts related to the recovery effort from the 2010 earthquake that devastated the capital of the impoverished Caribbean nation.

An official letter seeking legislative confirmation of Lamothe, a 39-year-old former businessman, was sent to the Haitian parliament on Thursday, according to legislative sources.

Lamothe is a fluent English-speaker who went to a university in Miami and ran a telecom solutions company with operations in Africa before entering politics.

Lamothe was an important adviser during the presidential campaign of Martelly, a popular folk singer who was sworn in last May.

In order to take office, Lamothe is required to submit documents proving his constitutional eligibility, which requires five years of residency before the appointment, and bans dual citizenship. That could be a problem for Lamothe whose career in business has involved spells in Miami and Africa.

The confirmation process can be lengthy. It took Martelly six months to secure approval of Conille's nomination.

Foreign leaders of donor countries that have poured billions of dollars into Haiti's earthquake recovery effort are deeply concerned about the political paralysis brought about by Conille's resignation.

Under Haiti's constitution, it is almost impossible for the president to run the country without a prime minister, who acts as the day-to-day head of government.

During his time in office, Conille earned the respect of local diplomats. A former UN development officer, he served as a senior aide to the UN special envoy for Haiti, former US President Bill Clinton, before becoming prime minister.

After Conille's resignation, the United States and the United Nations led calls for Haitians to bury their political differences and pick a new prime minister as soon as possible.

The head of the UN mission in Haiti, Mariano Fernandez warned that the resignation of Conille “shows, unfortunately, that the rifts have taken over the reconciliation to the detriment of the country.” - Reuters