A two-term Haitian Prime Minister, he initially took office in 1999 and, after a two-year-long first term, again led his country from 2006-2008. He was forced to resign in 2008 as a result of a severe Haitian economic crisis that involved widespread food riots. After studying agricultural engineering at the State University of Haiti, he earned a master's degree in food science from Canada's Universit' Laval. In the late 1980s, he founded Haiti's University of Quisqueya.