Haiti’s Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, has formally resigned.
In a letter posted to social media, Henry said that his administration had “served the nation in difficult times.”
Henry, a neurosurgeon turned politician came to power after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Henry had announced last month that he was quitting.
Henry is said to be in the U.S, having been locked out of Haiti by the gang uprising.
The outgoing cabinet announced that, pending the formation of a new government, Economy Minister, Michel Patrick Boisvert has been appointed as interim Prime Minister.
A transitional council was sworn in during a secret ceremony at the presidential palace, nearly two months after a criminal insurrection plunged the capital into chaos.
The nine-member transitional council, where seven members will have voting powers, is expected to help set the agenda of a new cabinet.
It will also appoint a provisional electoral commission, which will be required before elections planned for 2026 can take place. They are also set to establish a national security council.
Thursday’s ceremony was cloaked in secrecy and was not publicly announced because of the threat of violence.
An alliance of the country’s powerful gangs began a coordinated attack on the capital city of Port-au-Prince at the end of February.
It coincided with Henry’s visit to Kenya in support of a United Nations-backed security force that the East African country had agreed to deploy to Haiti.
Since the coordinated attacks began, Port-au-Prince has in effect been cut off from the outside world, with its international airport and port closed because of gunfights, and the roads linking it to other cities commandeered by armed groups notorious for kidnapping and extortion.
Only those wealthy enough to pay thousands of dollars for private helicopter flights – or desperate enough to brave the highways – have been able to get in or out of the capital.
In recent days, there have been shootouts between police and armed criminals in the downtown area around the palace. A prominent gang spokesperson, Jimmy Chérizier, this week warned Haiti’s incoming caretaker leaders to “brace yourselves”.
Political activists greeted the creation of the council optimistically.
U.S Hoped To Help Haiti Return To Stability
At a second ceremony marking the establishment of the council, the recently appointed U.S Ambassador to Haiti, Dennis Hankins, said that he hoped his country could help Haiti return to a path of stability, democracy and economic growth.
“Each day is a new day and this is a new day for Haiti,” Hankins said.
“The parties representing really the entire range of Haitian society have shown their ability to go past their personal or party interests to work together in favour of the Haitian people.
“So it is an important step today. In crisis the Haitians are able to do tremendous things and we’re here to help them. We won’t be the solution but hopefully we’ll be part of helping those finding the solution.”
Dennis Hankins
Hankins recognised that the U.S was partly responsible for Haiti’s current drama, given the large number of weapons flowing into the hands of Haiti’s gangs from the U.S.
“The fact that many of the arms that come here come from the United States I think is indisputable and that has a direct impact [here],” admitted the Ambassador, who said he believed his government was now working to limit the export of such firearms.
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