Global Policy Forum

By Kirk Semple

Haiti's interim prime minister, moving quickly to prevent the country from sinking into further disarray, reportedly settled on a list of cabinet members on Tuesday amid a regional quarrel over Jamaica's decision to receive Haiti's exiled president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Prime Minister Gérard Latortue, who was appointed last week, faces the task of forming an interim government that can begin reactivating the public and private sectors and winning the confidence of the Haitian people, who have suffered through months of political uncertainty. Mr. Aristide fled into exile on Feb. 29 under pressure from rebels and the American and French governments.

Officials involved in the cabinet selection said Mr. Latortue had decided on at least 12 ministerial posts on Tuesday plus several other cabinet members. The prime minister is expected to make the formal appointments on Wednesday.

The ministers chosen so far, according to officials close to the selection process, are mostly technocrats who have not been deeply involved in politics; the exclusion of politicians has reportedly angered some of the country's political parties on Tuesday, including Mr. Aristide's Lavalas Party. Mr. Latortue has said he intends to build a government of national reconciliation. The cabinet will run the country until elections are held.

The reported list of cabinet members includes Herard Abraham, a former general, as minister of public security; Bernard Gousse, a well-known lawyer, as minister of justice; and Yvon Siméon as minister of foreign affairs. eanwhile, diplomatic wrangling between Haiti's new government and Jamaica, which has provided temporary refuge to Mr. Aristide, continued on Tuesday.

Mr. Aristide spent the day in a heavily guarded house in a retreat owned by the Jamaican government in the hills near the resort town of Ocho Rios, and Jamaican officials said they would not recognize Haiti's new government until the issue was discussed at a meeting of the 15-member Caribbean economic bloc, the Caribbean Community, or CARICOM, later this month.

On Monday, Mr. Latortue said he was withdrawing his ambassador from Kingston and suspending diplomatic relations with Jamaica and CARICOM over their decisions to side with Mr. Aristide. The Haitian ambassador had actually left Jamaica last week, part of a mass recall of ambassadors undertaken after Mr. Aristide left Haiti, officials in Jamaica said.

Since fleeing Haiti, Mr. Aristide has claimed that he was forced from power by an American-backed coup and whisked into exile against his will. He says he is still president of Haiti. American officials deny the accusations.

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, who has grown increasingly hostile toward the United States in recent speeches, jumped into the regional diplomatic fray on Tuesday, saying he would not recognize the new government of Haiti and offering Mr. Aristide refuge in Venezuela.

American officials have joined Mr. Latortue in criticizing the Jamaican government's decision to allow Mr. Aristide's visit, saying the former leader's presence could interfere with the efforts to stabilize the country by inspiring his loyalists in Haiti to resist the transition to a new government.

Lydia Polgreen contributed reporting from Kingston, Jamaica, for this article.