Haiti’s prime minister late on Monday agreed to step aside as armed gangs plunge his nation into anarchy, as he accepted a regional push for a transition that sets the stage for international intervention.
Caribbean nations secured Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s resignation at an emergency meeting in Jamaica, where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered another US$100 million to pave the way for the security force, which is to be led by Kenya.
Gangs have taken over much of the western hemisphere’s poorest nation and the crisis has grown even more violent, with bodies strewn across the streets, armed bandits looting basic infrastructure and fears rising of a famine.
Photo: AFP
“The government I lead cannot remain insensitive to this situation. As I have always said, no sacrifice is too great for our homeland Haiti,” Henry said in a resignation address that he posted online.
Gang leaders had demanded the departure of Henry, who, while speaking of himself as a transitional figure, had remained in power since 2021 when Haiti’s president was assassinated. Haiti has not held an election since 2016.
Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, who chairs the Caribbean regional body CARICOM, announced after a weekend of diplomacy that Henry would leave once a new transitional authority is in place.
Ali saluted Henry, saying that the prime minister — stranded in Puerto Rico as Haiti’s main airport is no longer functioning — “has assured us in his actions, in his words, of his selfless intent, and that selfless intent was to see Haiti succeed.”
Blinken, who spent seven hours inside the talks in a Kingston hotel, confirmed Henry’s resignation in a telephone call initiated by Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
CARICOM, in a statement with its partners and the UN, said that Haiti’s new Transitional Presidential Council would have seven voting members who make decisions by a majority vote.
The seven would include representatives of major political parties, the private sector and the Montana Group, a civil society coalition that had proposed an interim government in 2021 after former Haitian president Jovenel Moise’s assassination.
There would also be two non-voting seats on the council — one for civil society and another for the church.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the host of the crisis talks, warned that Haiti risked all-out civil war.
“It is clear that Haiti is now at a tipping point,” he said, urging “strong and decisive action” to “stem the sea of lawlessness and hopelessness before it is too late.”
Escalating violence “creates an untenable situation for the Haitian people, and we all know that urgent action is needed on both the political and security tracks,” Blinken said. “All of us know that only the Haitian people can, and only the Haitian people should, determine their own future — not anyone else.”
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called on Haiti to speed up the appointment of an interim prime minister to restore peace and stability, and enable its people to return to normal life as soon as possible.
The ministry would continue to pay close attention to the development of the situation in the nation’s diplomatic ally, it said.
It would also establish communication and promote cooperation with Haiti’s new ruling council, it added.
Additional reporting by Liu Tzu-hsuan
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