The revival of Haiti's shattered government has taken a step forward with Parliament's approval of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's pick for prime minister.
But reports Saturday that an angry crowd mobbed Haitian police officers in a southern town underscored the difficulty of restoring local authority.Smarck Michel, a 57-year-old businessman, was confirmed as prime minister by both houses on Friday. He faces a final hurdle before taking the post - a vote of confidence on his policies by both parliamentary chambers. He is expected to win approval.
The choice of Michel was seen as an effort by Aristide to reassure business leaders and the United States, which engineered the ouster of the military regime.
The difficulty in restoring ordinary Haitians' trust in local authority was illustrated in a report by the Haitian Press Agency that shouting protesters surrounded a patrol vehicle carrying several Haitian officers on Friday.
The crowd accused the officers of human rights abuses under the hated military regime. U.S. soldiers escorted the Haitian officers to safety, and there were no reported injuries.
In another incident, a Haitian warrant officer was stabbed this week by two men in Grand-Goave, about 45 miles west of the capital, local radio reported. The officer alleged the attack was politically motivated.
In Port-au-Prince, the capital, hundreds of officers are undergoing weeklong courses in ethics and basic police work led by U.S. and Canadian experts.