By Manuel Roig-Franzia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, May 15, 2006; A10
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, May 14 -- President Rene Preval pleaded with Haitians to bring peace to the Western Hemisphere's poorest country as he was inaugurated Sunday during a ceremony that drew thousands to the whitewashed National Palace and marked the return of democratic rule in Haiti.
Crowds sang "Preval, Preval, we've been waiting for you" at each stop in the four-hour event, which his supporters hope will set Haiti on a new course two years after the violent ouster of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Signs of the chaos inherited by Preval -- a soft-spoken agronomist who once owned a bakery in Port-au-Prince -- were everywhere: As he prepared to be inaugurated, inmates at a central Port-au-Prince jail known for holding political prisoners protested, occupying a rooftop and chanting, "We want justice."
Then the power briefly failed during a Catholic Mass that Preval attended as part of the ceremony, a reminder that Port-au-Prince was without electricity for much of the week before the inauguration and has persistent supply problems. Later, at the National Palace, a crowd of invited guests and passersby overwhelmed security guards, pushing past metal detectors and streaming across the gated compound. They arrived at the palace after traversing streets guarded by heavily armed U.N. soldiers and tanks.
Known for his brevity, Preval spoke a total of less than 10 minutes, prescribing a one-word solution to the problems of a nation plagued by political turmoil: "peace."
"The answer is simple, the answer is clear: We have to build peace," Preval said, drawing cheers. "If we don't talk to each other, we're going to fight each other."
Preval, who served as Haiti's president from 1996 to 2001, took his second oath of office after being draped with a red-and-blue sash at the national parliament building. In a symbolically charged moment, he left the building at the side of outgoing president Boniface Alexandre, who led the U.S.-backed interim government put in place after Aristide fled into exile.
The peaceful, democratic succession was only the second in Haiti's tumultuous 202-year history. Preval's inauguration in 1996 was the first.
Preval faces huge challenges in trying to bring order to a nation that the nonprofit International Crisis Group calls "a perennial candidate for failed state status." Between 40 percent and 65 percent of children do not attend school, as many as one in 20 people is infected with HIV and criminal gangs control many of the country's slums and ports.
"There's not an area in the life of that country that doesn't require fundamental reform and development," said Mark Schneider of the International Crisis Group.
Preval has kept expectations low and asked Haitians for patience, particularly the poor who turned out in large numbers to elect him Feb. 7. During a recent U.N. visit, he asked the donor nations that have kept Haiti solvent to make a 25-year commitment.
Preval was declared winner of the presidential election after an internationally brokered agreement ended days of fiery protests and averted a runoff. Since then, he has traveled extensively, including visits to nations that have strained relations with the United States, such as Venezuela and Cuba. He has secured a preferential oil deal with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez; a Venezuelan oil freighter sat offshore Sunday prepared to make the first delivery.
Despite the international attention he has received, most nations sent low-level delegations. The United States was represented by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), whose state is home to the largest Haitian American population in the country. Canada sent a representative with emotional appeal -- Haitian-born Governor General Michaelle Jean.
Many of Preval's plans depend on foreign aid, and an international donor conference is set for July.
Speaking to the crowd outside the National Palace, Preval stressed that Haitians would have to accept responsibility for turning around the nation.
"Haitian people, I'm looking at you, eye to eye," he said.
Preval, who had retired to a mountain village before deciding to run, is hoping to stimulate Haiti's foundering economy by reducing fertilizer prices to help small-farm families, who represent two-thirds of the population. Pineapples were placed on the fence outside Haiti's pink-trimmed National Cathedral before Preval's inauguration Mass, and he walked into the cavernous building through an arch made of bamboo, a crop he has promoted in hopes of developing a furniture industry.
During his brief remarks, Preval also promised to build roads, schools and hospitals, although he did not say where he would find the money. He has touted private investment as a means of bringing jobs to his country, where one-third of people are unemployed.
Preval has said the presence of international military forces is not a long-term solution to Haiti's security problems, but during his speech Sunday he acknowledged that the forces were still needed to keep order.
"Please help me help the country help itself," he said.
There were loud cheers. "Preval, Preval" was shouted over and over. But Preval did not bask in the adulation. He turned abruptly and, just like that, he was gone.