COUNCIL SETBACK IN HAITI
Just when most people thought that a new, multi stakeholder interim government was set to takeover in Haiti, restore some semblance of calm and invite foreign soldiers and police officers to take on heavily armed gangs disrupting life in the capital, the body Monday ran into political roadblocks with one of the factions objecting to its forward march.
Authorities late Monday issued a statement saying that the interim government, which has been brokered by Caribbean governments and various Haitian groups had “stumbled over proven constitutional and legal questions. The constitution and Haitian laws nowhere provide for this institution,” the statement said, basically objecting to the nine-person interim administration.
Regional officials and some Haitian groups immediately pointed fingers to the December 21 group linked to outgoing Prime Minister Ariel Henry saying some of its activists are determined to sabotage the process and prolong the life of the current unelected administration which has been running the country in the aftermath of the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Henry, now in exile in Puerto Rico because gangsters have prevented him from returning after official trips to Guyana and Kenya, stepped up to become prime minister but he was never elected and has been running the country as a de facto head of government. The December 21 group was teh last to submit a nominee for the council after making it plain it had no intentions of participating.
Henry has promised to resign once the nine nominees on the presidential interim council name a new prime minister but this is expected to be delayed with the objections to a forward march by some December 21 activists. Officials named Andre Michel as one of the key players in this regard even as some younger members of the body have rallied behind CARICOM’s effort to facilitate a new government in Haiti that would also organize long delayed general elections. The delay means that there is no elected president, prime minister, lawmakers and mayor for many towns.
Barbecue, the leader of the “G9 and Family” gang, stands with his fellow gang members after speaking to journalists in the Delmas 6 neighborhood of Port-au-Prince in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, March 5, 2024. Haiti’s latest violence began with a direct challenge from the former elite police officer Jimmy Chérizier, known as Barbecue, who said he would target government ministers to prevent the prime minister’s return and force his resignation. AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph
The objections to the council moving forward came the same day when police and gangsters clashed in several parts of the city including at the presidential palace. Police were forced to return fire as gangsters allegedly linked to infamous gang leader Jimmy Barbeque Cherizier attacked the palace. Haiti Libre newspaper reported that five officers were injured in the attack while several of the attackers were injured or killed. Pleas from Barbeque for him to sit on the interim council have been outrightly rejected because of his criminal past and current activities.
CARICOM governments have already formally written to PM Henry naming the council members and giving him all the paperwork needed for him to liaise with them and to begin the process of resigning and handing over to the new council.
