Weekly Report - 13 January 2004

Pierre Charles, prime minister of Dominica, died on 7 January of heart failure, at the age of 49. He is the second premier to have died on the job: his predecessor Roosevelt Douglas did so in 2000. Charles earned himself a reputation for standing up to the US, opposing its 1983 invasion of Grenada and, more recently, urging an end to the embargo against Cuba and criticising US intervention in Afghanistan. In 2003 he adopted a strict austerity policy, slashing public spending by 15% in a bid to straighten out Dominica's finances. Last year he underwent two successive angioplasties, in Trinidad and the US. Charles has been succeeded by Roosevelt Skerrit, also of the Dominica Labour Party, who had been serving as his education & youth affairs minister. At 31, Skerrit is Dominica's youngest prime minister so far. He has reserved for himself the finance & planning portfolio, and retained Charles Savarin, of the Dominica Freedom Party, as minister for tourism, industry & enterprise development.