Haiti | New prime minister, shooting at an American airliner

(Port-au-Prince) The new Prime Minister of Haiti Alix Didier Fils-Aimé “committed” Monday to “restore security” in this Caribbean country in full chaos, at the time when an American airliner came under fire from Port-au-Prince before being diverted to the Dominican Republic.

After only five months in power, the outgoing head of government Garry Conille was dismissed and replaced, against his will and after a conflict with the Presidential Transitional Council, by the businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, who lent oath in an inauguration speech in French, from the Haitian capital, live on national television.

The new prime minister promised to “work tirelessly […] to political cohesion and the “restoration of security” in the country.

“I make the commitment […] to put my energy, my skills and my patriotism at the service of the national cause,” declared Mr. Fils-Aimé, who also spoke of upcoming “elections”, while the country has been without a president since 2021.

Crises

His predecessor Garry Conille was appointed at the beginning of June to try to stabilize the country.

The decision to dismiss him from his post came on Sunday, when the Presidential Council wanted to change heads of several ministries against the advice of the outgoing prime minister.

Mr. Conille then denounced a decision against him “tainted with illegality”.

Haiti has suffered from chronic political instability for decades. But in recent months, this Caribbean country has had to face a new resurgence of gang violence, which controls 80% of Port-au-Prince.

These armed groups, accused of numerous murders, rapes, looting and kidnappings for ransom, decided at the beginning of the year to join forces to overthrow the then prime minister, Ariel Henry.

After his resignation in April, a nine-member Presidential Transitional Council was set up to exercise executive power, with the difficult mission of restoring security and organizing elections.

The last ones date back to 2016.

Multinational force

The situation has continued to worsen since, despite the establishment of the multinational police support mission.

Supported by the UN and the United States, this mission led by Kenya began to deploy this summer with just over 400 men so far.

On Monday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Haitian political actors to “overcome their differences” and “work together,” according to his spokesperson.

The UN mission in Haiti (BINUH) counted 1,233 murders committed between July and September, including 45% attributable to law enforcement and 47% to gangs, in this country of 12 million inhabitants.

Particularly violent acts sometimes target children, with victims mutilated with machetes, stoned, decapitated, burned alive or buried alive.

Horrors which pushed more than 700,000 people, half of them children, to flee their homes to find refuge elsewhere in the country, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

A sign of this climate of violence, just before the inauguration of Mr. Fils-Aimé, a flight of the American company Spirit Airlines leaving Florida and bound for Port-au-Prince was diverted Monday to Santiago in the Dominican Republic.

An inspection “revealed evidence of damage to the aircraft consistent with firearm fire,” said the American low-cost carrier, which also reported “minor injuries” inflicted on a crew member.

A short video broadcast on X, notably by the media Haitian Times based in New York, shows several bullet holes on the cabin and in the cabin of the plane, an Airbus.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) “strongly condemned the latest attacks against civil aviation in Haiti” and “called on the Haitian government to act immediately to secure airlines and restore confidence in the country’s aviation sector” , in a message on X.

Spirit Airlines’ connections to Haiti were suspended, as well as those of American Airlines.