Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to resign following weeks of mounting pressure and increasing violence in the impoverished country. BBC reports
It comes after regional leaders met in Jamaica on Monday to discuss a political transition in Haiti, and Mr Henry is currently stranded in Puerto Rico after being prevented by armed gangs from returning home.
In a video address announcing his resignation, Mr Henry urged Haitians to remain calm.
“The government that I am leading will resign immediately after the installation of [a transition] council,” Mr Henry said.
“I want to thank the Haitian people for the opportunity I had been granted. I’m asking all Haitians to remain calm and do everything they can for peace and stability to come back as fast as possible.”
Mr Henry, who had led the country supposedly on an interim basis since July 2021 following former President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination, had repeatedly postponed elections, saying security must be restored first.
Many Haitians had questioned him governing the country for this long without an elected president.
Heavily armed gangs have controlled the streets of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince in recent days, demanding the resignation of the unelected prime minister.
READ: Haiti: State of emergency declared after mass jailbreak
The capital Port-au-Prince and the surrounding region is under a month-long state of emergency, while a curfew has been extended.
Matthias Pierre, a former elections minister in Haiti, broke the news of Mr Henry’s resignation to the BBC’s Newsday programme before it was confirmed publicly.
He described the current situation in the country as “very precarious”.
“The police force is weak, and more than 40 police stations [are] destroyed. The army is very limited and not equipped; gang members occupy most of the [Port-au-Prince] downtown and some government headquarters.
“Very soon people will be out of food, medication and… medical support.”
Mr Pierre said the gangs were now pushing to be part of any new power-sharing deal, adding that such a political settlement was impossible without the “support” of an international armed force.
Mr Henry had been in Kenya to sign a deal on the deployment of an international security force to help tackle violence when a coalition of gangs attacked police stations and stormed two of Haiti’s largest prisons.
A plane carrying Mr Henry was stopped from landing following sustained attacks at Haiti’s international airport.
His resignation has been expected for several days. The Caricom group of Caribbean nations had made its position clear that he was seen as an impediment to Haiti’s stability and that he would have to stand down so the move to a transitional council could begin.
