Conflicts: Resignation in Haiti: What happens next?

After an escalation of gang violence in Haiti, the Caribbean country’s interim prime minister, Ariel Henry, has announced his resignation. He said that night he would resign from office as soon as a transitional council was set up and his successor was appointed in a video that his office published on Facebook.

Shortly before, the heads of government of the Caribbean Community of States (Caricom) announced after a meeting in the Jamaican capital Kingston that they had agreed on the creation of a Presidential Council – for the political transition towards elections. Haitian stakeholders were also involved. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also took part in the meeting.

What was agreed?

According to Caricom, a council with seven voting members and two non-voting observers will be made up of representatives from several political parties and civil society groups as well as the private sector. The council is expected to appoint a new interim prime minister and cabinet, establish an electoral council and, together with the international community, advance the deployment of a multinational force to support the Haitian police force.

Anyone who has been accused or convicted of a crime, has been sanctioned by the United Nations, is seeking to run in the next election or is against a security mission approved by the UN Security Council is excluded from the Transitional Council. A timeline for the mission or the creation of the council was not given.

How deep is Haiti in crisis?

Violence by powerful gangs, often linked to politicians, has continued to increase since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse on the night of July 7, 2021. According to the UN, the gangs now have around 80 percent of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince under their control. According to the United Nations, about 362,000 Haitians are displaced within the country, more than half of them children. Almost half of Haiti’s approximately eleven million inhabitants suffer from acute hunger.

Haiti has no longer had a quorum since the beginning of 2020. Presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for September 26, 2021 were postponed indefinitely due to the security situation and have not yet been rescheduled.

At the end of February, the two most powerful gangs joined forces. Their leader, ex-cop Jimmy Chérizier, alias “Barbecue”, declared that if Henry did not resign, there would be a civil war. Bandits paralyzed large parts of Haiti with their violence: They attacked, among other things, police stations and airports. More than 4,500 prisoners were also freed from prisons. Diplomats from the EU and the USA as well as the German ambassador left Haiti last weekend. There are no more flights to and from Haiti.

The escalation coincided with Henry’s trip abroad, which took him to Kenya on March 1 – the East African country wants to lead the security mission in Haiti. Henry last flew to Puerto Rico on March 5 after the Dominican Republic, which borders Haiti, refused to allow him to land. In Henry’s absence, Finance Minister Michel Boisvert declared a state of emergency.

Why did Henry have to resign?

On July 5, 2021, Moïse appointed the neurosurgeon and former Interior Minister Henry as the seventh Prime Minister and thus head of government of his controversial term in office. Less than 36 hours later, before Henry was sworn in, Moïse was shot dead in his residence. The background to the attack has not yet been fully clarified. After the then Foreign Minister Claude Joseph initially took over the reins of government, Henry became interim Prime Minister on July 20, 2021 with the support of the international community.

The perception that he was installed and kept in power from outside contributed to Henry’s unpopularity. Furthermore, there have been few tangible efforts by his government to address the crisis. Henry’s decision to significantly increase fuel prices led to riots in 2022.

Since the 74-year-old was stuck abroad, he has not spoken up. Many people feel abandoned. “It’s almost like a family where the mother and father have left home. And the children are there and are being attacked from all sides,” said Haitian writer and activist Monique Clesca to the German Press Agency.

Henry was also investigated in September 2021 in connection with the Moïse murder because he was said to have phoned a main suspect. Henry fired the prosecutor and the attorney general.

Will gang violence ease now?

This cannot be assumed. The conditions for participation in the transitional council exclude, among other things, the gang leader Chérizier. He was sanctioned by the UN Security Council in 2022. The ex-police officer, who portrays himself as a fighter for the people, is accused, among other things, of participating in a massacre with at least 71 deaths in La Saline, a district of Port-au-Prince, in November 2018. Chérizier told Haitian media on Monday that Caricom could not decide who should lead Haiti. That’s only up to the people.

What do people in Haiti say about the developments?

Many Haitians reject any foreign interference. The fact that Haiti is now the poorest country on the American continent is also a result of long-term reparation payments to the former colonial power France. Starting in 1915, the USA occupied the Caribbean country for 19 years. After a coup in 2004, US soldiers came again, together with UN peacekeepers, to calm the situation. The peacekeepers from the UN stabilization mission Minustah triggered a cholera outbreak and were accused of numerous sexual crimes.

Clesca, who as a member of the Montana civil society group advocates for a Haitian-led solution to the crisis, said she was pleased and relieved by Henry’s resignation announcement. However, some of the groups from which the transitional council is to be formed are the “usual suspects”.