The arrival of peacekeeping troops and the naming of an interim prime minister in Haiti offered hope in recent days for stability, while church leaders continued to urge that the need for humanitarian aid remains great.

The Rt. Rev. Jean-Zache Duracin, Bishop of Haiti, warned of famine and anarchy unless emergency assistance was received from abroad.

Bishop Duracin told Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) that it was important for the work of the Church to continue in Haiti no matter the political situation. “We’ve given money to a priest [in Gonaďves] to buy food and school supplies,” he said. “It is important that the children continue their education amidst the unrest going on around them.”

An Episcopal priest, the Rev. Macdonald Jean, was named a member of Haiti’s council of seven “sages,” which on March 9 appointed Gerard Latortue to serve as prime minister until elections are held.

The Episcopal Church was asked to nominate a member for the council because of the great respect in which the church is held, Bishop Duracin told Episcopal News Service. “[It] is the church of the real people of Haiti, the people of the countryside,” he said of the diocese of 180,000 members.

ERD has sent an emergency grant of funds to the diocese to “provide immediate food, shelter, and medicine” but further assistance would be required, said spokeswoman Ayana Davis.

Burton Joseph, program officer for the Diocese of Haiti, told ERD that Port-au-Prince was a “ghost town” in the days following the outbreak of violence.

“People don’t have access to food and medical care. It is a very, very difficult situation,” Mr. Joseph said. Reports received by the diocese from the countryside and from the outlying cities of Cap Haitien and Gonaďves foreshadowed famine and continued lawlessness unless order was quickly restored.