Haiti: Prime Minister Ariel Henry agrees to resign

Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to resign amid surging violence in the Caribbean country, the chair of the Caribbean Community said Monday.

Henry said he will step down once a transitional presidential council is created and an interim premier named. He had held the position, unelected, since the 2021 assassination of the previous president, Jovenel Moise.

"We acknowledge his resignation upon the establishment of a transitional presidential council and naming of an interim prime minister," said Caribbean Community chair Irfaan Ali, also the president of Guyana. Ali thanked Henry for his service to Haiti.

A seven-member presidential council will be formed for the transition to elections in Haiti, which will appoint a new interim prime minister, Ali said late on Monday.

Kenya says policing mission in Haiti on hold

Henry is currently stranded in the US territory of Puerto Rico, following his trip to Kenya last week to lobby for UN-backed police to be deployed in his country.

The UN had unsuccesfully appealed for months for a country to volunteer to lead the operation. International and UN missions in Haiti are viewed with skpeticism following past cases of child sexual abuse and a cholera outbreak that was traced back to a UN barracks in a country that had previously eradicated the disease. 

On Tuesday, a Kenyan foreign ministry official told both the Reuters and AFP news agencies that Nairobi had decided to pause the deployment at least temporarily. 

"We are waiting basically for a clear indication that there is a government in place," Abraham Korir Sing'Oei told Reuters. Speaking to AFP, he said there had been a "fundamental change in cirucmstances ars a result of the complete breakdown of law and order and the subsequent resignation of the PM of Haiti [Henry]." 

The deployment was already in doubt amid a challenge at Kenya's top court focused on whether its police had a mandate to operate overseas in this way.

Caricom leads urgent international talks on Haiti crisis

Members of a Caribbean regional trade bloc known as Caricom organized emergency talks in Jamaica on Monday to address the violence in Haiti. The meeting also involved Canada, France, the UN and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Caricom has pressed for a transitional government in Haiti for months amid protests calling for Henry's resignation.

Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the current Caricom chair, warned that, despite the ongoing talks to restore "stability and normalcy" to Haiti, some Haitian groups "are not where they need to be."

After meeting with Caribbean leaders, Blinken announced $100 million (€92 million) in funding for the deployment of a multinational force to help stop the violent crisis in the country and an additional $33 million in humanitarian aid.

How did the situation deteriorate?

Haiti has seen escalating violence as police battled armed gangs calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Henry.

Influential criminal gangs have long controlled much of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Henry had ignored the calls for elections, saying the security situation in the country did not allow for this.

Last week, the violence spiraled in the Caribbean nation in his absence after a powerful gang leader held a press conference and said he was trying to oust the government.

Haiti's government announced the extension of a state of emergency by a month and a nighttime curfew in an effort to curb the gang violence that engulfed the capital.

US, European embassy staff leave amid violence

The EU said on Monday that its embassy staff in Port-au-Prince had relocated to the Dominican Republic.

A day earlier, the United States said it had airlifted nonessential embassy personnel from Haiti.

The German Foreign Ministry also issued a statement saying that the German ambassador had left the country "as a result of the very tense security situation in Haiti."

ss/jsi (Reuters, AFP, AP)