By Jim Loney and Joseph Guyler Delva
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Taxis, vendors and shoppersreturned to the debris-strewn streets of the Haitian capital onThursday after the president appealed for an end to food riots,but the government came under fire from opposition politiciansfor not doing enough.
In a letter signed by 16 of Haiti's 27 senators, theopposition demanded the resignation of Prime Minister JacquesEdouard Alexis after a week of violent demonstrations over therising cost of living in which at least five people died.
The riots, which began in the south of the poorest countryin the Americas and spread to Port-au-Prince on Monday, pittedtear gas- and rubber bullet-firing U.N. peacekeepers againstthousands of hungry Haitians enraged over the high price ofrice, beans and other food staples.
Barricades of burning tires and wrecked cars that hadparalyzed the capital were dismantled, sporadic looting easedand crowds around the National Palace dispersed after PresidentRene Preval ordered the rioting to stop on Wednesday.
Preval promised to boost national production of food toreduce the Caribbean country's dependence on imports, but manyprotesters said they wanted action now and were disappointed hehad not cut taxes on foodstuffs
"The proposals of the president, as good as they may be forthe future of the country, do not solve the immediate problemsof the population," said the letter, signed by Youri Latortue,a nephew of a former prime minister, and members of a host ofopposition parties. No one from Preval's Lespwa party signed.
"Too little, too late. That's the feeling that yourproposals have provoked. It is obvious that the majority of thepeople don't believe any more in the capacity of yourgovernment to take courageous measures to ease the misery thatthe population is facing daily," the senators wrote.
Haitians going about their business in the capital, whomostly live on less than $2 (1.01 pounds) per day and whosecountry has been haunted by decades of dictatorship, oppressionand economic mayhem, remained worried.
"This is all I will have today to feed my children," saidBanave Suprien, 40, who is responsible for eight children --his own four and another four of a sister killed recently -- ashe showed off a loaf of sliced bread in a plastic bag.
High fuel prices, which have made transportation moreexpensive, rising demand in Asia, the use of farmland and cropsfor biofuels, a long drought in Australia and speculation onfutures markets have combined to push up food prices worldwide.There have been outbreaks of unrest in several poor countries.
TAP-TAPS AND PLANTAINS
Despite the dissatisfaction, Preval's appeal for an end tothe mayhem was followed by an uneasy calm in Port-au-Prince.
There were no reports of violence early on Thursday andthere was a little more life in the rock- and glass-coveredstreets of the sprawling and chaotic city of uncertainmillions.
Colourful pick-up truck "tap-tap" taxis circulated again, achange from the past couple of days when the capital's streetswere abandoned to rioting mobs.
Street vendors, who had disappeared while thousands ofdemonstrators hurled rocks at U.N. peacekeepers and Haitianpolice, returned to the curbsides to sell fried plantains andpork, and shopkeepers opened their stalls in the main market tosell oranges and papayas.
U.N. peacekeepers rolled up barbed wire they had placedaround the opulent National Palace when they had to fend offthousands of protesters trying to storm Preval's office.
The U.N. troops also took off their blue helmets as theysat casually in armoured personnel carriers lining major roadsand intersections. Security remained heavy.
Some demonstrators warned protests could break out again.
"I think that Alexis should resign. We Haitians cannot feedour children. We are living like animals and he is not solvingthe problems," said shoemaker Jonas Glezil, 30.
"We don't ask Preval to resign but are waiting to see whathe is going to do. If he doesn't act there could be trouble inthe future."
(Writing by Michael Christie; Editing by Patricia Zengerle)
(For more stories on global food price rises, please seehttp://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/agflation)
