Haiti's council of "wise men" on Tuesday appointed former Foreign Minister Gerard Latortue as the new prime minister to replace Yvon Neptune.

Latortue, a French-educated economist and lawyer, spent much ofhis career as the UN Organization for Industrial Development.

Latortue spent 25 years in exile during the three decades of Duvalier family dictatorship from 1957 to 1986.

Latortue served as foreign minister in 1988 to former PresidentLeslie Manigat, and left Haiti in the same year after Manigat was toppled in one of the 32 coups fomented by Haiti's army.

Since then, Latortue has been living in Florida, the United States, working as a business consultant.