Chaotic negotiations and a new withdrawal among the candidates: the establishment of transitional authorities in Haiti remained blocked on Tuesday, while the population continued to suffer from gang violence.
Highly contested, Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced on March 11 that he agreed to leave power, and that his resignation would be effective once a “presidential transitional council” was installed.
But this body, which should represent the main Haitian political forces, as well as the private sector, civil society and the religious community, is struggling to see the light of day.
Monday evening, its future members, several of whom were chosen with great difficulty, had to elect the person who, among them, would chair the council.
But the meeting was postponed indefinitely despite prior agreement on the agenda, with several representatives having withdrawn, one of the members told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Blocked country”
Leslie Voltaire, the representative of the Fanmi Lavalas party, notably estimated in a correspondence addressed to his colleagues that electing a president was not possible without a “political agreement signed between the different sectors”.
And when the council finally seemed complete, René Jean Jumeau, one of the two observer members – therefore not benefiting from the right to vote to choose the future interim prime minister – threw in the towel.
“The need for concrete action is too strong to remain helpless in the posture of a spectator,” argued in a letter the person who in recent days demanded the right to vote within the structure.
The transitional presidential council was announced on March 11 after meetings between Haitian representatives and those of several countries and organizations including the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
For Gédéon Jean, who participated in these meetings on behalf of civil society, it is time for the international community to “return to service” to “push the Haitian actors” to an agreement.
Otherwise, the training of transitional authorities risks taking “months and months,” the director of the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights (CARDH), a Haitian NGO, told AFP.
“We cannot leave a country blocked [de cette manière]and the actors really can’t get along,” he insists.
Security
In the meantime, the population continues to pay a high price for instability.
The head of UNICEF, Catherine Russell, warned that “countless children” risk losing their lives due to the multidimensional crisis ravaging Haiti, “while vital aid is ready to be distributed if violence stops and roads and hospitals reopen.”
The shooting stopped Tuesday in Port-au-Prince, but the previous evening, according to the testimonies of three residents, gang members looted and burned pharmacies, clinics and residences near the university hospital of State of Haiti. This establishment, the largest public hospital, is inoperable due to gangs.
Shops were open in the capital and activities continued as usual. But helicopters were crisscrossing the sky at a time when several countries are organizing the repatriation of their nationals.
Kenya was due to send a thousand police officers to Haiti as part of a UN-backed mission, but announced that it was suspending the deployment in view of the situation.
For Gédéon Jean, ensuring safety is the priority.
However, since the Kenyan mission “is not for tomorrow” and the police “do not have the material, human, technological means […] to confront the gangs”, it is necessary, according to him, to think of an “intermediate force”.
The latter could be set up by countries in the region, he asserts, to “intervene, strengthen the Haitian national police, stop the progression of gangs”. It would be a matter of stabilizing the situation “while waiting for the force [kényane] happens, it’s the only way to get to the elections,” he judges.
On Tuesday, the White House announced that President Joe Biden had approved up to $10 million in aid to help Haitian security forces “protect civilians and vital infrastructure from gang attacks.”