UN launches appeal to feed Haiti

The United Nations launched an urgent appeal yesterday for $35 million to help Haiti after a bloody monthlong revolt and the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide left the poorest country in the Americas facing a humanitaryestertor Adama Guindo said the funds would feed and care for 3 million of Haiti's 8 million people for six months.

"The situation in Haiti is one of chronic crisis," Guindo said.

With a 2,300-strong international force patrolling the sprawling capital, a Haitian council considered candidates for prime minister in another tentative step toward establishing a government in the Caribbean country.

The panel, which included members of both the political opposition and remnants of Aristide's government, on Monday interviewed candidates to replace Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, an Aristide appointee. They were expected to make a decision as early as yesterday.

The first step to a new administration in the deeply polarized nation followed the bloodiest day since Aristide was flown to the Central African Republic on February 29, driven out by a revolt that killed more than 200 people and by US pressure.

Militant supporters of the former slum priest on Sunday fired on a crowd celebrating his departure, killing at least six. In their first engagement, US Marines killed one attacker.