(Port-au-Prince) Barely 48 hours after being announced, is the plan for a transition in Haiti threatened? Disagreements quickly emerged within the political parties supposed to agree on the composition of provisional authorities after the announcement of the resignation of the contested Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
A “transitional presidential council” must emerge to try to restore a semblance of stability in this poor Caribbean country undermined by gangs. But the leader of one of these armed bands threw a spanner in the works by assuring that he would “continue the fight for the liberation of Haiti”.
Monday evening, during an emergency meeting in Jamaica with the participation of Haitian representatives, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the UN and several countries such as the United States and France had tasked Haitian formations to put on foot this transitional council.
Just before the upcoming resignation of Ariel Henry had been announced. Appointed a few days before the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, he was strongly contested.
Haiti, which has not had an election since 2016, is still without a head of state.
“Inclusive”
The presidential council must be made up of seven voting members representing the main political forces in Haiti and the private sector. He must choose an interim prime minister and appoint an “inclusive” government.
According to the Americans, this council was to be formed “within 24 to 48 hours”, but the negotiations are difficult.
Jean Charles Moïse, of the left-wing Pitit Desalin party, said on Wednesday that he rejected CARICOM’s proposal on the formation of a presidential council.
And most of the parties contacted by AFP indicated that they were still in talks.
If the EDE/RED/Historical Compromise grouping, a group close to assassinated President Jovenel Moïse, has already submitted its representative to CARICOM, members of the December 21 collective – Ariel Henry’s group – disagree on the person to choose .
“None of this is easy. None of this is going to happen from one day to the next,” said the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken on Wednesday. “But at least there’s a plan, a process in place to get there.”
Deployment postponed
Gangs control entire swaths of the country, including 80% of the capital Port-au-Prince. Their violence – murders, rapes, kidnappings for ransom, looting – has spread to rural areas previously considered safe, the UN indicated in November.
Kenya was to deploy a thousand police officers in the country as part of an international mission supported by the UN, but announced that it would suspend this dispatch in view of the situation. Its president, however, assured that this deployment would take place once a presidential council was installed.
“Obviously, the political situation remains a little unclear,” admitted the spokesperson for the UN Secretary General, Stéphane Dujarric, urging an agreement on this council “as quickly as possible”.
PHOTO RALPH TEDY EROL, REUTERS ARCHIVES
People wait to collect water in containers along a street in Port-au-Prince.
“What we are asking is that the international community supports the creation of this support mission as quickly as possible,” he added. “I don’t think it’s fair to rest the future of Haiti, the security of Haiti solely on the shoulders of Kenya.”
Gangs are a priori excluded from the transition in preparation. But because of their firepower, they risk de facto influence.
” Struggle ”
In recent years, they “have become very powerful. They penetrated deep into communities. They recruited a lot of young people, they exploited the desperation of young people” and “don’t want to disappear,” says Ivan Briscoe, of the International Crisis Group.
In an interview with Colombian radio W, gang leader Jimmy Chérizier aka “Barbecue” said that Ariel Henry’s resignation “imports” to him.[ait] little “.
“I saw CARICOM countries deciding for the Haitian people […]. We will continue the fight for the liberation of Haiti,” he said.
Meanwhile in Port-au-Prince, commercial activities resumed on Wednesday and some public administration offices reopened their doors, according to an AFP correspondent.
However, schools remain closed, as does the international airport.
The United States announced that it had sent a team of its Marines to protect its embassy.
The UN, for its part, indicated that an “air bridge” between Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic would be set up to allow “the flow of humanitarian aid” to the country in crisis.