Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive  said Thursday February 18, 2010 that his government could collapse because political opponents  are capitalizing on its inability to address the staggering fallout of  the Jan. 12 earthquake.  
Bellerive, who has been more visible than President Rene Preval since  the deadly quake, told The Associated Press in a 40-minute interview  that he has two immediate fears — how the 1.2 million people living in  the streets will deal with the impending rainy season and the danger of  political divisiveness.
"You have the feeling that everyone is trying to do his little part  and accuse the other one of not doing his part," Bellerive said,  including Haitian politicians, international groups and the business  community. "Everyone is trying to create conflict when we have the same  enemy right now: It's misery, it's disaster."
 Bellerive had been prime minister for two months when the earthquake  struck, have replaced a predecessor ousted mainly by senators from  Preval's party. He is the sixth person to hold the post since 2004 in  this politically unstable nation.
Preval took power under a U.N.-sanctioned election after two years of  a U.S.-backed interim government that filled the void after the 2004  ouster of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Bellerive, an economist whose prior responsibilities included  coordinating international aid for this deeply poor nation, said he  understood criticism that Haiti's leaders did not do enough to help in  the days after the magnitude-7 earthquake killed 200,000 people and  leveled nearly every government ministry along with 38 percent of the  capital.
"Because we didn't have any administration we could not give the  services the population is entitled to. So they say there isn't any  government," he said.
Since the quake, Bellerive said, he has spent sleepless nights  worrying about impending rains — and their threat to cause landslides  and floods that are constant killers in this Caribbean nation.
He said he has struggled to find solutions for those displaced by the  quake. Most are still in the streets, trying to cope with poor  sanitation and not enough food.
Then there is the potential for a constitutional storm.
A legislative election scheduled for this month has been canceled,  threatening parliament's legitimacy. A presidential election planned for  later in the year is also in question, with Preval's term expiring in  12 months.
In a country where peaceful transitions to power are rare, that could  give opportunities to political rivals, Bellerive said.
"I am not asking for a truce, but I believe we have a serious problem  that we have to face right now as a nation," Bellerive said. "The  government is not able to resolve this situation alone."
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- Port-au-Prince, Haiti
- PVS Canal 16 started airing in 1990. It is the first on-air private television station licensed to operate in Haïti. Its programming has largely been based on Haitian culture and Haitian cinema promotion.

 
 
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