Port-Au-Prince: Haitian lawmakers voted unanimously to censure Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis today, as the president announced a plan to cut food prices that had sparked deadly protests.

Earlier, President Rene Preval indicated he would support any move to remove Alexis, who has been in power since 2006,following a week of riots prompted by sudden hikes in food and fuel costs which left at least five people dead.

"If parliament fires the prime minister, I will do what the constitution demands- I will consult the two parliamentary leaders to name a new prime minister, because no party has a parliamentary majority," he told reporters.

A group of 16 senators had previously called for the government to resign after the riots, which injured about 200 people according to an unofficial count, and prompted the intervention of UN troops stationed on the island.

Preval also announced at a press conference in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince today that he had taken action to reduce the cost of rice.

Thousands of people took to the streets last week after the price of a 50-kilo bag of rice jumped within a week to USD 70,while the cost of fuel rose for the third time in less than two months.

The president said the cost of a bag of rice would fall by eight dollars, adding: "It is a move the government has agreed to thanks to the USD three million in aid from the international community."

Source : PTI