Clarens Renois

Haiti is trapped in a grim scene frozen in time two years after Haiti's earthquake disaster which killed between 200 000 and 300 000 people.

Michel Martelly faces a mammoth task after he is sworn as Haiti's new president on Saturday, inheriting a shattered Caribbean nation.

Partial results suggested Monday that carnival singer Michel Martelly was on course for a landslide win in Haiti's presidential run-off election.

Haiti won plaudits for holding a calm and relatively peaceful presidential run-off on Monday as partial results suggested Michel Martelly could win.

Haitian voters prepare on Sunday to choose between a popular singer and a former first lady as the quake-ravaged country's next leader.

Supporters beat drums while workers spruced up his private villa as Haitians prepared on Tuesday for the possible return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Haiti desperately sought on Wednesday to halt a cholera epidemic that threatens to spiral out of control after reaching the capital's crowded slums.

More than a dozen have died of cholera in central Haiti, adding to concerns that the outbreak is edging closer to the densely populated capital.

The death toll in the Haiti quake has swelled to 200 000, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said on Wednesday.

René Préval, who was declared Haiti's new President on Thursday, has pledged to tackle the Caribbean country's rampant poverty and seek a national dialogue, though he was yet to announce a clear programme. During his electoral campaign, Préval had asked voters to judge him on his performance during his 1996 to 2001 presidency.

For Judie Roy, the only woman among 34 candidates for president of Haiti in elections to be held in January, the face of poverty in one of the world's poorest countries is female. "All that is misery, all that is poverty is female in Haiti. That must be changed," says the 41-year-old mother of six.

A year after Hurricane Jeanne ravaged Gonaives in Haiti, killing 3 000 and leaving 300 000 homeless, residents still await emergency food aid and fear they have been forgotten. Pierre Edner, who helped distribute emergency food aid to storm survivors, said people are desperate in this immense township on the coast.