By AMY BRACKEN
Associated Press Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Alone in a grimy-walled prison cell, former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune said he has no confidence in new Haitian leaders who allowed his home to be ransacked and whose lack of protection forced him into hiding.

In his first media interview since turning himself in Sunday to face accusations of orchestrating political killings, Neptune said on Tuesday that although he opposes Haiti's new leaders, "I have to deal with them."

He said he had been in hiding since the March 12 installation of U.S.-backed interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.

"Ever since March 12, I have practically been in prison," he told The Associated Press and two Haitian radio stations at the National Penitentiary.

He declined to discuss accusations that he was linked to killings before the Feb. 29 ouster of his president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, now exiled in South Africa.

Sitting on a cot, Neptune said "there was no effort to stop it" when his home was looted and burned after Aristide's departure. "I have no confidence in the police," he said, accusing them of collaborating with rebels.

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