Haiti’s leader to resign as gangs run rampant through country engulfed in crisis

The embattled prime minister of Haiti, Ariel Henry, has said he will resign after weeks of mounting chaos in the Caribbean nation, where gangs have been attacking government structures and social order is on the brink of collapse.

Henry said in a video address late Monday that his government would leave power after the establishment of a transitional council, adding, “Haiti needs peace. Haiti needs stability.”

“My government will leave immediately after the inauguration of the council. We will be a caretaker government until they name a prime minister and a new cabinet,” Henry said.

The Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), meeting in Jamaica on Monday said it had agreed to set up a transitional council to lay the foundations for elections in Haiti.

“We are pleased to announce the commitment to transitional governance arrangement which paves the way for a peaceful transition of power, continuity of governance and action plan for near-term security and the road to free and fair elections. It further seeks to assure that Haiti will be governed by the rule of law,” said Guyana leader and CARICOM Chairman Irfaan Ali in a news conference, flanked by other Caribbean leaders.

When the worst of the violence erupted last week, Henry was in Kenya to sign an agreement to send 1,000 Kenyan police officers to the Caribbean nation to restore the security situation of which his government has lost control.

He was unable to return to Haiti as the security situation deteriorated around the airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince. A plan to travel via the neighboring Dominican Republic was abandoned after the government there refused permission for his plane to land. He has been in the US territory of Puerto Rico since last week.

The United States will contribute $300 million to the Kenyan-led multinational security mission, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after attending the CARICOM meeting on Monday. He also announced an additional $33 million in “humanitarian assistance for the people of Haiti.”

Following Henry’s announced resignation and “the complete breakdown of law and order” in Haiti, Kenya has put its deployment of police to the country on hold, a Kenyan spokesperson told CNN.

“Without a political administration in Haiti, there is no anchor on which a police deployment can rest, hence the government will await the installation of a new constitutional authority in Haiti,” Kenya’s principal secretary for foreign affars, Koror Sing’Oei, said.

But despite the Kenyan official’s comment, the US believes the Kenyan peacekeeping mission to Haiti will move forward “without delay.”

“What the Kenyan government said in its statement is that they have to have a government with which to collaborate,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing. He said the appointment of a transitional council and a new government would happen “in the very near future,” clearing the way for Kenya to deploy its forces.