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A U.S. force aircraft arrives with contractors to build a base for a Kenyan-led international security force aimed at countering gang violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti May 11, 2024.
Will international aid stabilize Haiti?
Gang violence continues to escalate in Haiti, prompting calls for the dismissal and arrest of the country's National Police Director Frantz Elbé. In the words of Garry Jean-Baptiste, a police union spokesperson, “Monsieur Elbé has failed.” Jean-Baptiste accuses the chief of incompetence and complicity with gangs, noting that 30 police stations have been attacked and burned in recent months.
In the US, representatives of 2.5 million voters of Haitian descent are calling on Washington to grantTemporary Protected Status to Haitian migrants already in the US.
While TPS is complicated by the Biden administration’s attempts to tighten migration policy, last Friday the US began sending $300 million worth of resources and civilian contractors to support a UN-authorized, multinational security force, to be led by 1,000 Kenyan police officers. The goal is to bolster Haiti’s outmatched police force, restore order, and avert a humanitarian disaster. Nearly one and a half million Haitians are on the verge of famine, and many are fleeing to the neighboring Dominican Republic.
In anticipation of the inflow of international assistance, Haiti’s transitional councilrestructured itself to rotate leadership among four veteran politicians every five months and altered its majority decision requirement. The hope is that this will stabilize decision making and enable the country to hold elections by February 2026.A drone view of the Jalousie neighbourhood after former President of the Senate Edgard Leblanc was named to lead the transitional council, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, April 30, 2024.
Who is Haiti’s new PM? Even Haitian heavyweights don’t know
Haiti’s transitional council unexpectedly elected obscure former Sports Minister Fritz Bélizaire as prime minister on Tuesday, dividing the council 4 to 3. Gangs, meanwhile, threaten chaos if they are excluded from government.
Didn’t Haiti just get a new PM? Yes, Michel Patrick Boisvert, the well-known finance minister, briefly took the premiership after Ariel Henry stepped down last week.
The appointment of Bélizaire came as a surprise, with four of the transitional council’s seven voting members suddenly revealing their consensus. The new PM has not held any political office in over a decade, and Leslie Voltaire, one of the council members, told the Guardian “I don’t know him.”
Some believe Voltaire’s appointment was orchestrated by former Senator Jean-Charles Moïse. Moïse had to be persuaded to join the council while he also flirted with an alternative transition plan proposed by former coup leader and convicted drug trafficker Guy Philippe. Appointing a nobody like Bélizaire could leave Moïse in a position to call shots.
What about the gangs? All the politicking feels farcical in the face of facts on the ground. The council was sworn in secretly last month as powerful coalitions of armed gangs hold most of the capital, Port-au-Prince. They’ve already toppled one government, and warlord Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier threatened to do it again if they aren’t brought in: “Either we are all at the table, or the table gets destroyed with all of us,” he said.
Haiti's new interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert holds a glass with a drink after a transitional council took power with the aim of returning stability to the country, where gang violence has caused chaos and misery, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti April 25, 2024.
New chapter for Haiti as Henry steps down
Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry formally resigned on Thursday to be replaced by Finance Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, who will work with a newly sworn in transitional council. Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, has been ravaged by gang violence and effectively without a prime minister since March 12.
Get up to speed: Henry agreed to step down last month after gangs blocked his reentry to the country from Kenya, where he was trying to secure a multinational security force to assist him in restoring law and order to the country.
Many of the gangs are led by a man named Jimmy Chérizier, aka Barbecue. They have taken advantage of the power vacuum left by Henry’s absence and are now in control of about 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and large swaths of the country. Barbecue said last month he would consider laying down weapons if armed groups were allowed to take part in talks to establish the new government.
Boisvert and thenine-member council, of which seven have voting powers, have a steep climb to tackle the gang violence. The council will appoint a provisional electoral commission, a requirement before elections can take place, and establish a national security council.FILE PHOTO: Street vendors carry goods for sale as they walk near the Presidential Palace after Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry pledged to step down following months of escalating gang violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti March 12, 2024.
US evacuates citizens from Haiti
The US Embassy in Haiti evacuated more than 30 US citizens who were still in the country on Sunday, as unchecked violence shuttered all but one hospital in the capital.
A chartered flight left from the northern city of Cap-Haitien, where the airport has been occasionally functional. The State Department said it would continue chartering flights as long as it could do so safely. The airport in Port-au-Prince has been closed since gangs attacked it on March 4 to prevent the return of now-outgoing Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
Gangs have also ransacked and burned multiple hospitals in the capital. A BBC crew who went to the State University of Haiti hospital found no staff in the facility, which was full of patients, and at least one corpse.
Is there hope? Six parties confirmed they would participate in a transitional council to replace Henry, but former Senator Jean-Charles Moïse rejected the seat he was offered. Moïse said he prefers an alternate council organized by convicted drug trafficker Guy Philippe, which lacks international support.
It’s all talk until someone can tackle the heavily armed gangs. Haitian police say they mounted an attack against the most powerful gang leader and self-declared revolutionary, Jimmy Chérizier, aka Barbecue, on Saturday, but failed to kill or capture him.