Sun-Sentinel

The head of the supreme court, who announced Sunday that he was taking charge after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned, is a longtime jurist with a reputation for honesty in a notoriously corrupt system.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre declared three hours after Aristide fled the country that he was taking charge of the country under the constitution.

Alexandre, who is in his 60s, urged calm after more than three weeks of violence in the Caribbean nation of 8 million people.

"The task will not be an easy one,'' Alexandre told a news conference. "Haiti is in crisis... It needs all its sons and daughters. No one should take justice into their own hands.''

Despite Alexandre's declaration that he was in charge, the Haitian constitution calls for parliament to approve him as leader and the legislature has not met since early this year when lawmakers' terms expired.

But there is a precedent.

When Gen. Prosper Avril was ousted in a palace coup in 1990, Lt. Gen. Herard Abraham succeeded him and surrendered power to Haiti's Supreme Court justice. That allowed a transition leading to Haiti's first free elections in December 1990, which Aristide won in a landslide.

Alexandre has been honored for his honesty and high competence in a judicial system fraught with corruption.

Alexandre has been honored for his honesty and high competence in a judicial system fraught with corruption.

He was brought up by his uncle, former Prime Minister Martial Celestin, and represented the French Embassy during 25 years as a lawyer.

Alexandre joined the Court of Appeals in the late 1980s and became one of the 12 supreme court members in 1990. He was appointed chief justice about a decade later.

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