Haiti: New Prime Minister Garry Conille
The current head of UNICEF has already been at the helm of the country for a short period of time
Haiti’s transitional presidential council has named a new prime minister. That’s Garry Conille, 58, former prime minister from 2011 to 2012 under president Michel Martelly, the current UNICEF head of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Haiti thus regained a prime minister after the resignation of Ariel Henry in April. The country has been struggling for months with violence by armed gangs who have taken control of various services and infrastructure and are “besieging” the capital Port-au-Prince. These same forces prevented Henry from returning to his homeland, shortly after which he resigned. He was overseas at the time negotiating an international force for Haiti with UN support. They were supposed to help the Haitian police regain control of the situation.
The multinational force will be led by Kenya. After months of delay, they should arrive on the island in mid-June, Kenyan President Ruto said.
Haiti has been unstable since 2021, when President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated. Henry then took over for a while and had to call an election by February 7, 2024. He failed to do so, explaining that order must first be restored in the country. But there’s no order there. Hopes are now linked to a multinational force led by Kenya. They will be supported materially and financially by the United States, and the contingent will consist of about 1500 soldiers from Benin, Chad, Bangladesh, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Barbados. According to the UN, more than 362,000 Haitians have been displaced from their homes in recent months, and in the first three months of 2024 alone, mass violence has led to more than 1500 deaths.