Prime minister: Haitians will vote next year
U.S. announces new economic, security aid to nation
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 Colin Powell traveled to Haiti for a one-day visit with representatives of the U.S.-backed interim government. CNN's Elise Labott reports (April 6)
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(CNN) -- After a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, the leader of Haiti's interim government said Monday that general elections will be held next year to set up a new democracy.
Prime Minister Gerard Latortue made the announcement at a news conference in Port-au-Prince.
The elections will be held in the wake of the fighting that forced the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February.
Latortue also said Haiti's political parties and civilian groups had agreed on the election timetable.
Powell arrived in Haiti on Monday for a one-day visit with representatives of the U.S.-backed interim government.
He also met with U.S. troops who were sent to help restore order after Aristide resigned from office February 29 as rebels encircled Port-au-Prince.
During Powell's visit, the U.S. State Department announced a series of initiatives to assist security, economic recovery and national reconciliation in Haiti.
Part of that effort includes the immediate deployment of a seven-member team to advise Haiti's interim government on security issues.
The United States will also begin a three-year jobs program to "provide tens of thousands of jobs to improve municipal infrastructure," "rehabilitate schools and public buildings destroyed by the rioting and burning; build or rehabilitate roads" and improve community water supplies, a State Department statement said. (Full story)
The United States will allocate $9 million for elections and democracy-building in Haiti, the statement said, and the U.S. Treasury Department will assist in helping the Caribbean nation recover assets that may have been "illicitly diverted."
After Aristide left office -- a move he insists was the result of a U.S.-led coup -- the 15-nation Caribbean Community stressed "the importance of holding free and fair elections to ensure a return to constitutional democracy in an acceptable time frame" in Haiti.
At the March meeting, Caribbean leaders said they were angry that the U.N. Security Council refused their urgent plea to send international troops to save Aristide, Haiti's first democratically elected leader, and then, after he was forced to flee three days later, sanctioned an intervention led by U.S. troops. (Full story)
Aristide left Haiti on February 29 for the Central African Republic. From there he went to Jamaica, which offered to let him stay for up to 10 weeks.
Journalist Clarence Renois contributed to this report.
