Haiti's council of "wise men" on Tuesday appointed former Foreign Minister Gerard Latortue as the new prime minister to replace Yvon Neptune, reports from the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince said.

The seven-member council, which was formed last week with representatives of different social sectors, announced its decision before 6 p.m. local time (2300 GMT).

The council had submit the appointment to Haiti's interim President Boniface Alexandre to make it official, said the reports.

Latortue, an economist, was one of the four candidates to replace Neptune, who refused to resign after former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled the country on Feb. 29.

Latortue was foreign affairs minister in 1988 in the governmentof President Leslie Manigat, and left Haiti when Manigat was overthrown in a military coup in the same year. Since then, he hasbeen living in Florida, the United States, working as a business consultant.

The first task of the new prime minister will be to form a cabinet and assume responsibility for the police, the only armed corps of the Caribbean country.