HAITI GANG LEADER VOWS TO FIGHT ON
PORT-AU-PRINCE: A powerful Haitian gang leader pledged on Wednesday to continue the fighting that has plunged the country into chaos, as stakeholders work toward establishing a transitional governing body to replace the outgoing head of government.
Gangs that control most of the capital Port-au-Prince launched an armed campaign almost two weeks ago, saying they intended to topple Prime Minister Ariel Henry, sending the nation into violent conflict with warnings of possible famine and civil war.
Henry agreed to step aside after an emergency meeting on Monday that brought together United States, United Nations and Caribbean representatives, among others, and yielded a blueprint for Haitians to form a governing Transitional Presidential Council until elections can be held.
But Jimmy Cherizier, a powerful Haitian gang leader known as “Barbecue,” said on Wednesday that his coalition of armed groups “do not care about Ariel Henry’s resignation.”
“We are going to continue the fight for Haiti’s liberation,” the former policeman under UN sanctions told Spanish-language network W Radio.
Haiti has not had a national election since 2016, and there is currently no president or parliament. President Jovenel Moise, who was assassinated in 2021, was not replaced, with Henry leading the country after his death.
Henry has been stranded in Puerto Rico after a visit to Kenya, where he hoped to nail down details of a plan for Nairobi to lead a UN-approved police force to restore order in Haiti.
He announced on Monday night that he would resign once the transitional council is set up.
Kenya said it had put its plans on hold, but President William Ruto confirmed on Wednesday that his country still intended to follow through with the support mission once the council is installed.
Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, who heads the Caribbean Community (Caricom), said the crisis in Haiti was likely beyond the capacity that militaries in the region could handle.
“The situation in Haiti tells you how ill-prepared we were as a region,” he said at a University of Guyana event in the capital Georgetown. “We are now scrambling to put together joint command, joint operation.”
Tough talks
The transitional body is to have seven voting members drawn from political parties, the private sector and the Montana Group, a civil society coalition that had proposed an interim government in 2021 after Moise’s assassination.
There will also be two nonvoting seats on the council: one for civil society and another for the church.
The body is supposed to quickly name an interim prime minister.
The US State Department said on Tuesday that the council should be formed in 24 or 48 hours, but the talks are turning out to be arduous and most parties contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) said they were not yet near agreement.
Parties close to Moise have selected their delegate to the transitional body but politicians loyal to Henry are still in disagreement over who will represent them.
“We’re talking about political parties, which have not been able to see eye to eye over the last few years,” Ivan Briscoe, head of the International Crisis Group’s Latin America and Caribbean program, told AFP.
Now that Henry is heading out, “possibly they will look to the national interest and leave aside their party interests for a while until the elections,” he said.
Several residents of Port-au-Prince welcomed the resignation of Henry, but wondered how the powerful gangs — who control vast swaths of the country and 80 percent of the capital — would behave as Haiti tries to get back on its feet.
A man named Emmanuel, who declined to give his last name, said Henry “was the biggest obstacle we had.”
“He did not really have a plan for what to do with the country. We need a fast mechanism to replace him,” he told AFP.
Another Haitian, Jean Dieuchel, said “it is now up to the people to decide who should be prime minister and who should be president. These people should be Haitian patriots and they should have a sense of national sovereignty.”