Haiti continues to face violence unleashed by armed groups despite a state of emergency and the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
On Tuesday, Haiti’s prime minister said he has agreed to resign after a transitional presidential council is created and a new interim prime minister is appointed.
The US expects members of Haiti’s presidential transition council to be named within the next 24 to 48 hours, the State Department said.
“That should happen in the very short term. I can’t put a timeline on the appointment of an interim prime minister, but we expect that to happen in the near future,” spokesman Matt Miller said.
Henry resigned on Monday amid increased violence by a notorious gang that has repeatedly forced the general election to be called off.
Henry, who has been in Puerto Rico for security reasons since March 5, informed the CARICOM regional bloc of his decision to resign.
Jimmy Cherizier, the gang leader who led thousands of inmates to escape from prison, said on March 6 that unless Prime Minister Henry resigned, “Haiti will either be heaven for everybody or hell for everybody.”
Armed gangs demanding Henry’s resignation launched an armed attack on two prisons near Port-au-Prince and the Croix des Bouquets region on March 2 and 3 and clashed with security forces. During the conflict, about 4,000 prisoners escaped from the prison, and 12 people died.
Cherizier’s gang tried many times to seize the capital’s airport to prevent Prime Minister Henry from returning to the country.
Henry was in Nairobi at the time of the gang attacks to discuss sending a multinational security force led by Kenya to Haiti.
On March 4, the government announced that a state of emergency had been declared. The night curfew has been extended until March 14.
Dozens of people have been killed and more than 15,000 have been forced to flee their homes to escape the devastating violence.
The main port in Port-au-Prince remains closed, with dozens of containers of supplies waiting at the port. Water is running low, and stores are running out of goods.
