PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Aljazeera – Haiti’s transitional council has announced the formation of a new government, replacing all the members of former Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s cabinet, as the country pushes to tackle economic woes and rampant gang violence.
The announcement on Tuesday came two weeks after the council appointed Garry Conille – a former regional director for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) – as interim prime minister.
Several ministers in the new cabinet are from outside the country’s political class.
Dominique Dupuy, Haiti’s representative at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), will serve as the country’s foreign minister. Conille will also act as interior minister – a critical position that oversees the Haitian National Police.
Haitian authorities have been struggling to curb gang violence. Over the past three years, armed groups have launched organised attacks across the country, blocked fuel terminals and raided police stations in the capital Port-au-Prince and other cities.
The unrest has been exacerbated by a series of crises facing the country of more than 11.5 million people.
Haiti has suffered from periodic natural disasters, food insecurity, a cholera outbreak and long-standing political instability, including the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021.
After the killing of Moise, then-Prime Minister Henry became the de facto leader of the country. But he faced questions over his legitimacy after he indefinitely postponed Haiti’s presidential and legislative elections.
Gang leaders and civil society groups had demanded Henry’s removal. He stepped down in April, enabling a transitional presidential council to take over the government.
Haiti has not held an election since 2016. Earlier this year, the US Department of State said the establishment of the new transitional council paves the way for “free and fair elections” in the country.
The international community, led by the United States, has been pushing to send a multinational security force to help quell the violence in Haiti. Kenya is set to lead the police force.
Kenyan President William Ruto said the UN-backed international officers will deploy to the Caribbean nation soon.
“The people of Haiti are maybe waiting, by the grace of God, that probably by next week or the other week, we shall send our police officers to restore peace,” Ruto said on Sunday.
The force will have the difficult task of restoring security and order in Haiti. According to UN estimates, 80 percent of Port-au-Prince and its surrounding areas are under the control or influence of criminal gangs, which have been accused of murder, kidnapping and sexual violence.
The Associated Press is reporting that Prime Minister Garry Conille was discharged from a hospital Sunday after spending a night in treatment for an undisclosed condition.
In a video published on YouTube, Conille said he felt well and was “ready” to continue to help steer the country out of its current security crisis by forming a government that will also prioritize issues like health care.
In his video, Conille said: “The whole time I was at the hospital, I was thinking of something: People that need to go to the general hospital can’t get there (due to widespread violence). People who need health care can’t afford it.”
Gang violence remains relentless in the Caribbean country, with three police officers killed Sunday and a fourth one missing, according to Synapoha, a police union. The officers were part of a new anti-gang unit, it said.
The violence has forced roughly 60% of hospitals in the capital city’s metropolitan area to close, while gangs also loot and burn pharmacies and doctors are forced to stay at home on some days to avoid dangerous clashes between gangs.
Conille arrived in Haiti on June 1 after a transitional council selected him as the nation’s new prime minister. He had been working outside the country as UNICEF’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.(WiredJA)
