Haiti's government fell on Saturday when senators fired the prime minister after more than a week of riots over food prices, ignoring a plan presented by the president to slash the cost of rice.
Sixteen of 17 senators at a special session voted against Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis, an ally President Rene Preval placed at the head of a coalition cabinet in June 2006 that was meant to unite the fractious Caribbean nation.
The move by opposition senators was seen as a serious but not crushing blow to Preval, whose 2006 election brought a measure of calm to the poorest country in the Americas as it searched for political stability after decades of dictatorship, military rule and economic mayhem.
The quest for a permanent peace has been derailed in the past 10 days by riots over the rising cost of living.
"Now it's my turn to play," Preval said when he was told by journalists of the Senate vote shortly after he and private sector leaders unveiled a plan to cut the cost of a sack of rice to $43 from $51.
Three dollars of the price cut would be paid for by businesses and the rest by international donors, he said.
Preval said he would ask parliament to pick a new prime minister. Alexis, an agronomist who was seen as a pragmatist and dealmaker, also had served as prime minister during Preval's first term as president from 1996 to 2001.
The clash with senators came just two days after the president of the country of 9 million people - most of whom earn less than $2 a day - managed to persuade rioters to end a week of violence in which at least five people were killed.
Stone-throwing crowds began battling U.N. peacekeepers and Haitian police in the south of the country on April 2, enraged at the soaring cost of rice, beans, cooking oil and other staples.
TEAR GAS, RUBBER BULLETS
The unrest spread this week to the capital, Port-au-Prince, bringing the sprawling and chaotic city to a halt as mobs took over the streets, smashing windows, looting shops, setting fire to cars and hurling rocks at motorists.
