After the resignation of its contested prime minister, Ariel Henry, Haiti is trying to move forward on the path to security and the rule of law. Political leaders in this Caribbean country plagued by political instability and gang violence have reached an agreement to form a 22-month presidential transition council, which will be responsible for restoring order, according to a document seen Monday 8 April by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
This nine-member council – seven voters and two observers – includes representatives of the country's main parties, as well as the private sector and civil society. His mandate will end “on February 7, 2026,” notes the text. He is to replace Ariel Henry who announced his resignation on March 11.
On Sunday evening, the future members of the council sent the political agreement and the decree of entry into force to the Caribbean Community (Caricom), a political official told AFP. The regional authority will have to transmit these documents to the outgoing government of Ariel Henry to confirm the investiture of the council in the Official Journal.
Three priorities
Its first task will be to choose a prime minister who, together with the council, will appoint a government to lead the country towards “democratic, free and credible elections,” according to the agreement. None of the members of the council or the government will be able to run in these elections.
Supervised by Caricom, the negotiations were delayed due to disagreements between stakeholders responsible for appointing the next prime minister and doubts about the very legality of such a body.
The transitional body sets three priorities: “Security, constitutional and institutional reforms, and elections.”
The last elections were in 2016
The political agreement thus announces the creation of a national security council formed by experts who will supervise agreements relating to international security assistance, in particular the sending of a mission supported by the UN. This new council wants to settle in the National Palace, in the center of the capital Port-au-Prince, attacked several times in recent weeks by gangs. Several shots rang out in the area on Monday, residents told AFP, and special police units were deployed.
Haiti has no longer had a president since the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021 and no longer has a functioning Parliament. The last elections were held in 2016.
In late February, powerful Haitian gangs, which control more than 80 percent of the capital and crucial highways, teamed up to attack police stations, prisons, the airport and the port in an effort to oust Ariel Henry . He has been prevented from returning to his country since his official trip to Kenya, where he went to ensure Nairobi's participation in the international security mission in Haiti supported by the United Nations.
The population is facing a serious humanitarian crisis, with shortages of food, medicine and other basic goods.
