Haitians were on edge on March 15 awaiting the naming of a transitional governing body meant to restore stability to the country, wracked by gang violence and largely isolated from the outside world.
Attacks in the capital Port-au-Prince continued overnight, targeting the airport and a top police official’s home, while residents mounted roadblocks in two spots both to impede the criminal gangs and signal their own frustration.
Some are hoping a transitional council can fill the void left by departing Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who is leaving amid pressure from an offensive by gangs that control 80% of the capital.
Yet many have decried the pending establishment of a transitional council, a move supported by Caribbean regional body CARICOM, the United Nations and the United States.
“I am in the street now and I am very angry,” resident Francois Nolin said, claiming that “the Americans are imposing certain conditions on us to run the country.”
Messy history
“White people have no right to meddle in our affairs. Instead of making things better, they will make them worse,” said Jesula, a Haitian woman who declined to give her last name.
The country has a long, brutal history of foreign interventions, from a 20-year American occupation in the early 1900s to a deadly cholera outbreak linked to a UN peacekeeping mission in the 2010s.
Gunfire on March 14 near the airport left one police officer wounded. The home of the top police commander was also pillaged and burned, the police union reported.
An overnight curfew was extended to March 17 in the Ouest department, which includes Port-au-Prince, to “retake control of the situation,” according to the Prime Minister’s office. A state of emergency is set to end April 3.
“There are great numbers of prison escapees on the streets,” said Port-au-Prince resident Edner Petit. “The situation is getting steadily worse.”
Underscoring the impact of the crisis on ordinary Haitians, the Haitian Medical Association on Thursday expressed “consternation” over the “forced closure of hospitals” and “acts of physical violence against care personnel.”
Naming new leadership
Mr. Henry, whose term in office was marked by rising gang violence, announced on March 11 he would resign once the transitional council is stood up.
President Jovenel Moise, who appointed Mr. Henry, was assassinated in 2021 and was never replaced. The country has not held elections since 2016.
CARICOM was holding an emergency meeting with representatives of Haiti, the United Nations and concerned countries including the United States.
The meeting charged Haitian political groups with establishing the transitional governing body, and most of those groups have submitted the names of their chosen representatives, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on March 15.
Members of the so-called December 21 Accord, the group supporting Mr. Henry, have struggled to agree on a single nominee but are in talks aimed at doing so.
The transition council is supposed to comprise seven voting members representing key political and private-sector forces in Haiti. It has been tasked with selecting an interim Prime Minister and nominating an “inclusive” Cabinet.
But several groups will be excluded: those charged with or convicted of crimes; those facing UN sanctions; anyone planning to take part in coming elections; and anyone who has opposed UN plans to deploy a multinational peace force in Haiti.
Kenya, which had agreed to provide a thousand police officers and lead that mission, said on Tuesday the deployment would be suspended until a presidential council is installed.
According to the World Food Programme, some 4.4 million Haitians suffer from acute hunger.
