Politicians seek new alliances to lead Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitian politicians started pursuing new alliances Wednesday, seeking a coalition that could lead the country out of the gang violence that has fuelled lawlessness, closed the main airport and prevented embattled Prime Minister Ariel Henry from returning home.
Haiti remained largely paralysed, with schools and businesses still closed amid heavy gunfire blamed on the gangs that control an estimated 80 per cent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, where several bodies lay on empty streets. The country’s two biggest prisons were also raided, resulting in the release of more than 4000 inmates over the weekend.
Mr Henry faces increasing pressure to resign, which would likely trigger a USsupported transition to a new government.
One new political alliance involves former rebel leader Guy Philippe and ex-presidential candidate and senator Moïse Jean Charles, who told Radio Caraïbes on Wednesday that they signed a deal to form a three-person council to lead Haiti.
Philippe, a key figure in the 2004 rebellion that ousted former President JeanBertrand Aristide, returned to Haiti in November and has been calling for Mr Henry’s resignation. He spent several years in prison in the US after pleading guilty to a money laundering charge.
Meanwhile, the US ambassador to the United Nations was asked Wednesday whether the United States asked Mr Henry to step down.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield replied that the US has asked Mr Henry to “move forward on a political process that will lead to the establishment of a presidential transitional council that will lead to elections.”
Barbecue, the leader of the “G9 and Family” gang, speaks to journalists in the Delmas 6 neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, March 5, 2024.