Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry has resigned, the chair of the Caribbean group of countries said on Tuesday.
This follows weeks of mounting pressure and increasing violence in the country.
It comes after regional leaders met in Jamaica on Monday to discuss a political transition in Haiti.
Henry is currently stranded in Puerto Rico after being prevented by armed gangs from returning home.
He had led the country since the former president’s assassination in July 2021.
Speaking following the meeting in Kingston, Caribbean community chair and Guyana President Irfaan Ali said:
“We acknowledge his resignation upon the establishment of a transitional presidential council and naming of an interim prime minister.”
Heavily armed gangs have controlled the streets of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince in recent days, demanding the resignation of the unelected prime minister.
Mr Henry had been in Kenya to sign a deal on the deployment of an international security force to help tackle violence when a coalition of gangs attacked police stations and stormed two of Haiti’s largest prisons.
A plane carrying Mr Henry was stopped from landing following sustained attacks at Haiti’s international airport.
Haiti: The basics
- The Caribbean country shares a border with the Dominican Republic and has an estimated population of 11.5 million
- It has a land area of 27,800 sq km, which is slightly smaller than Belgium and about the same size as the US state of Maryland
- Chronic instability, dictatorships, and natural disasters in recent decades have left Haiti the poorest nation in the Americas
- An earthquake in 2010 killed more than 200,000 people and caused extensive damage to infrastructure and the economy
- A UN peacekeeping force was put in place in 2004 to help stabilize the country and only withdrew in 2017
- In July 2021, President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated by unidentified gunmen in Port-au-Prince. Amid political stalemate, the country continues to be wracked by unrest and gang violence.
In Kenya, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki Monday disclosed that the Kenyan-led Haiti Mission is in the pre-deployment stage.
He said the plans to deploy the more than 1,000 cops are ongoing.
Kindiki said the signing of the reciprocal agreement between Kenya and Haiti on March 1 as required by the court set the stage for the deployment.
The agreement was signed in Nairobi by security ministers from the two countries in the presence of President William Ruto and Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
“There was a small court matter which has been resolved.
The court said we needed to have a reciprocal agreement with Haiti, that reciprocal agreement was signed more than a week ago,” he said.
Kindiki said all the other programs that are related to the deployment of the 1,000-strong Kenya police units to the gang-hit Caribbean nation are in place including the Status of Forces Agreement and the laws on detention, arrests, and other enforcement measures.
He added that the Standard Operation Procedures that will guide how the Multinational Security Support mission will be handled have also been finalized.
Kindiki pointed out that Kenyan police officers will be part of a larger security force tasked with restoring order in Haiti.
“Kenya is a lead nation but there are so many countries that have pledged to contribute troops and this came from the mandate of the United Nations Security Council and is part of our international obligations,” he added.
This comes amid ongoing violence in the country.
As heavily armed gangs continue to challenge Haiti’s weak government and turn the country’s capital into a battlefield, the State Department on Sunday, March 10 flew in U.S. Marines to reinforce its embassy and evacuate non-essential personnel.
The middle-of-the-night operation was conducted via helicopter by the U.S. military at the request of the State Department, the U.S. Southern Command said in a statement.
“This airlift of personnel into and out of the embassy is consistent with our standard practice for embassy security augmentation worldwide, and no Haitians were on board the military aircraft,” the statement said.
The airlift comes amid ongoing gang attacks in multiple locations around metropolitan Port-au-Prince, including Tabarre, where the U.S. embassy is located.
Several nearby businesses have been looted and overtaken by armed gangs that today control more than 80 percent of the capital.
Since last Thursday, armed groups have led a coordinated attack, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, and targeting key Haitian government institutions.
After taking control of several police stations, they targeted the main seaport before orchestrating a mass prison break at the two largest prisons.
Thousands of inmates were freed by the gangs, including several notorious gang leaders.
The gangs have also launched attacks against international and domestic airports.
Heavy gunfire around the airports has led to the suspension of international flights into the country.
