(Georgetown) Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to “share power” with the opposition as part of a deal aimed at paving the way for elections within a year, his Antigua counterpart announced Wednesday -and Barbuda during a Caribbean Community (Caricom) summit.
Mr. Henry, who has led Haiti since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, has faced violent protests in recent weeks demanding his departure, worsening political instability in the country ravaged by gang violence.
“We have come a long way,” Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne assured the press in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana where the summit is being held. “Henry is committed to serving as an honest broker and sharing power,” he added.
According to an agreement reached in December 2022, Prime Minister Ariel Henry was to organize elections in order to leave power on February 7, 2024.
No elections have taken place since 2016 in this small, poor Caribbean country and the presidency remains vacant.
PHOTO RALPH TEDY EROL, REUTERS
Protesters called for the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry last Sunday.
In October, the UN Security Council agreed to send a multinational mission to the country, which is experiencing a serious political and humanitarian crisis and the violence of gangs who control entire swaths of the territory.
Although it was in principle to be led by Kenya, a court in Nairobi blocked the planned dispatch of a thousand Kenyan police officers at the end of January.
Benin announced on Tuesday that it would send a first contingent of two thousand men to the Caribbean country.
Mr. Browne, however, called on the United States, France and Canada to play a more direct role in the deployment of this force.
“There is a minimum moral obligation to play a leading role in resolving this matter and not make a group of developing countries bear all the sacrifices linked to the loss of human life,” he said.
According to the UN, the month of January was the most violent in more than two years in Haiti, where nearly 5,000 people were killed in 2023, including 2,700 civilian victims of gangs.