Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to resign amid surging violence in the Caribbean country, the chair of the Caribbean Community said Monday.
Henry said he will step down once a transitional presidential council is created and an interim premier named. He had held the position, unelected, since the 2021 assassination of the previous president, Jovenel Moise.
“We acknowledge his resignation upon the establishment of a transitional presidential council and naming of an interim prime minister,” said Caribbean Community chair Irfaan Ali, also the president of Guyana. Ali thanked Henry for his service to Haiti.
A seven-member presidential council will be formed for the transition to elections in Haiti, which will appoint a new interim prime minister, Ali said late on Monday.
Henry is currently stranded in the US territory of Puerto Rico, following his trip to Kenya last week to lobby for UN-backed police to be deployed in his country.
Caricom leads urgent international talks on Haiti crisis
Members of a Caribbean regional trade bloc known as Caricom organized emergency talks in Jamaica on Monday to address the violence in Haiti. The meeting also involved Canada, France and the UN with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in attendance.
Caricom had had pressed for a transitional government in Haiti for months amid protests calling for Henry’s resignation.
Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the current Caricom chair, warned despite the ongoing talks to restore “stability and normalcy” to Haiti some Haitian groups “are not where they need to be.”
After meeting with Caribbean leaders, Blinken announced an $100 million (€92 million) to fund the deployment of a multinational force to Haiti to help stop the violent crisis in the country and an additional $33 million in humanitarian aid.
How did the situation deteriorate?
Haiti has seen escalating violence as police battled armed gangs calling for the ouster of the Prime Minister.
Influential criminal gangs have long controlled much of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
Henry ignored the calls for elections saying the security situation in the country did not allow for this.
Last week, the violence spiraled in the Caribbean nation in his absence with a powerful gang leader held a press conference and said he was trying to oust the government.
Haiti’s government announced the extension of a state of emergency by a month, and a nighttime curfew in an effort to curb the gang violence that engulfed the capital.
US, European embassy staff leave amid violence
The EU said on Monday that its embassy staff in Port-au-Prince had relocated to the Dominican Republic.
A day earlier, the United States airlifted non-essential embassy personnel from Haiti.
The German Foreign Ministry also issued a statement saying that the German ambassador had left the country “as a result of the very tense security situation in Haiti.”
ss/jsi (Reuters, AFP, AP)
