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Pressure mounted on ousted dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier Friday, as a rights group said Haitian officials were opening a probe into alleged torture and killings during his 15-year rule.

"We welcome with satisfaction the beginning of investigations on crimes against humanity," Gerardo Ducos, Haiti researcher for Amnesty International, told a press conference in Port-au-Prince.

"It's an important moment for fighting impunity."

"Baby Doc" Duvalier returned without warning on Sunday to the Caribbean nation he fled in disgrace in 1986 after being ousted in a popular revolt.

His shock reappearance, after a 25-year absence, has heightened a political crisis here with the government in limbo due to stalled presidential elections.

President Rene Preval is supposed to step down early next month, but the vote which took place in November has been mired in controversy, with international monitors finding significant first round fraud in favor of his favored candidate.

The exact motives behind Duvalier's return remain unclear. He has said he wants to help the country after last year's devastating earthquake that killed more than 220,000 people and left 1.3 million homeless.

But there are fears he could be seeking to profit from Haiti's current political turmoil.

Further muddying the political scene, another ousted leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who quit under pressure in 2004, is also seeking to return.

Rights groups say the Haitian government should seize the moment to bring Duvalier to justice.

"Victims have a right to reparations, not only financial reparation but also the revival of collective memory," Amnesty's Ducos added. "Bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to justice is one of the state's obligations."

Ducos also warned: "Impunity breeds a climate where human rights abuses carry on. We have to break this cycle of impunity."

Amnesty has handed over to Haitian prosecutors 100 documents relating to abuses and violations, highlighting cases of torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial crimes during Duvalier's rule, Ducos said.

Haitian prosecutors have already moved against Duvalier charging him with corruption, embezzlement of public funds and criminal association during his rule.

And in a separate legal challenge, four Haitians have filed lawsuits alleging crimes against humanity.

The United States meanwhile has lead pressure on Preval to follow the recommendations from the Organization of American States (OAS) to withdraw his protege, Jude Celestin, from the race to succeed him.

Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said Haiti must carry out the 0AS recommendations and establish a legitimate government or risk losing goodwill.

"Sustained support from the international community, including the United States, will require a credible process that represents the will of the Haitian people," Rice told a UN Security Council debate on Haiti on Thursday.

"We urge the Haitian authorities to outline a very clear way forward that will lead promptly to the inauguration of a democratically-elected government."

The US move was also backed by Britain and France.

Initial election results in December showed that opposition candidate Michel Martelly lost out to Celestin by less than 7,000 votes, sparking riots between rival factions that left at least five people dead.

After analyzing tally sheets, the OAS mission advised that the second and third finishers should be switched so Martelly would face former first lady Mirlande Manigat, who clearly topped the poll, in the run-off.

AFP