PORT-AU-PRINCE -- President Jean-Bertrand Aristide unveiled an ambitious plan Wednesday to create a new government and society in which democracy and reconciliation can thrive.


"We have to stop the violence, stop the vengeance,'' Aristide said in his first news conference since he returned home Saturday after three years in exile.


Aristide, speaking to hundreds of reporters inside the National Palace where he has been holed up since his arrival, talked of plans to overhaul the existing government structure from top to bottom.


The newly restored president said he had begun meeting with military leaders about reshaping the army long criticized for brutality and human rights abuses and with political parties about creating a political system in which different voices can be heard.


He said he also is meeting with private business leaders about working hand in hand with the state to overhaul the economy.


There was no immediate word, however, on a replacement for Prime Minister Robert Malval.


The businessman never was his candidate for the job, but was the favorite of U.S. diplomats who saw him as a moderate in the conflict between the military and the exiled president.


The interim army chief, Major General Jean-Claude Duperval -- named just last week to replace coup leader Lieutenant General Raoul Cedras -- is also expected to be replaced.


Bernardin Poisson, promoted Tuesday from colonel to brigadier general, is the front-runner for the job, diplomatic sources said. Poisson, 46, is the French-trained chief of the fire department -- the military is in charge of firefighting in Haiti -- and is considered an apolitical professional.


Besides setting new policy and appointing new personnel, however, Aristide must find ways to calm the anger of ordinary Haitians, who still seek revenge for years of military repression.


In two incidents Tuesday, crowds seized and severely beat two men they accused of being "attach?s,'' civilian gunmen used by the army to terrorize and kill people.


Such retribution is clearly occurring all across Haiti, despite Aristide's repeated calls for reconciliation.


In one of Tuesday's incidents, at the capital's port, the bloodied man was brought to U.S. Army medics, who administered first aid, and one of his attackers was taken into custody.


"This guy's a FRAPH,'' said the detainee, Johnny Juseu, 16, referring to a notorious paramilitary group. "He's stabbed and killed people. So I slapped him one time.''


A spokesman for the U.S. forces that have been in Haiti since Sept. 19, Navy Lieutenant Mark McCaffrey, said other Haitians are apprehending suspected paramilitary members and turning them over to the Americans for questioning.


Elsewhere on the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haitians were looking forward to the end of the gasoline black market -- and the return of reasonable prices -- later this week.


The first commercial petroleum shipment was due to arrive Wednesday in the capital as a result of last weekend's lifting of UN trade sanctions imposed to pressure the former military regime to resign.


The news prompted profiteers to boost prices on their remaining contraband gas Tuesday to as high as $30 a gallon. The government set the controlled price on the legitimate market, once it resumes, at less than $4 a gallon.