Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced early Tuesday that he will resign once a transitional presidential council is created, capitulating to international pressure seeking to save the country overwhelmed by violent gangs that, according to some experts, have sparked a war. low-scale civil.
In a speech broadcast early this Tuesday, Henry acknowledged that the country needs “calm” and “peace.”
“Haiti needs peace. Haiti needs stability,” CNN quoted Henry.
“My government will leave immediately after the inauguration of the council. We will be a caretaker government until they name a prime minister and a new cabinet,” Henry said in his pre-recorded address.
Henry served as prime minister the longest since Haiti’s Constitution was adopted in 1987, a surprising feat for a politically unstable country with a constant turnover of prime ministers.
The announcement was made hours after several Caribbean leaders and US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, met in Jamaica to urgently debate a solution to stop Haiti’s spiraling crisis.
Henry has not been able to enter Haiti because violence closed its main international airports. He had arrived in Puerto Rico a week ago after being barred from landing in the Dominican Republic, where authorities said he lacked the required flight plan. Dominican authorities also closed airspace to flights to and from Haiti.
It was unclear who exactly would lead Haiti out of the crisis, in which heavily armed gangs have burned police stations, attacked the main airport and raided two of the country’s largest prisons. The raids resulted in the release of more than 4,000 inmates.
Dozens of people have died in the violent attacks, and more than 15,000 Haitians have been left homeless as they fled neighborhoods under fire.
power vacuum
Haiti has no president or parliament, and has not held elections since 2016.
At the beginning of the month, the gangs that control much of the impoverished country began a series of attacks against strategic locations in Port-au-Prince, such as the presidential headquarters, the airport and prisons, while demanding Henry’s resignation.
“We are pleased to announce our commitment to a transitional government agreement that paves the way for a peaceful transition of power,” said Irfaan Ali, president of Guyana and temporary president of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
“To this end, we take note of the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry,” he added at a press conference.
According to a US official, the Haitian leader also confirmed his resignation by telephone to the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, who participated on Monday in the regional meeting held in Jamaica.
The questioned Haitian leader, stranded in Puerto Rico while his country suffers from gang violence, will be welcome if he decides to stay in that US territory in the Caribbean, that source added.
Caricom called the meeting in Kingston after gangs plunged America’s poorest nation into a chaos of murder and looting, raising fears of famine.
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