Former soldiers dressed in military uniforms walk in the back of a former prison in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, yesterday. Former soldiers on Tuesday took over the former prison now being used as a music school to demand back-pay and reinstatement of the country's armed forces. - AP

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CMC):

The Haitian government yesterday said it was seeking a peaceful end to a stand-off with former soldiers who seized a government building in the northern city of Cap Hatien in support of their calls for outstanding wages and reinstatement into the armed forces.

Patrick Elie, an adviser to President Rene Preval, said the protest was "political manipulation" ahead of a scheduled Senate confirmation vote Wednesday on the president's nominee for prime minister. Two previous nominees have been rejected.

He said some politicians wanted the government to re-establish the armed forces as part of its programme, and that the protest was aimed at putting "pressure on a government that it is at its weakest moment in some years".

White flag

Earlier this week, the soldiers took over the former prison now being used as a music school in Cap-Haitien, and a former barracks in Ouanaminthe, a northern Haitian town on the border with the Dominican Republic.

They raised a white flag indicating that they did not want to engage the UN peacekeepers or Haitian police, a local radio journalist said.