In Haiti, the transition council dismisses the prime minister

Haiti's presidential transition council has decided to dismiss the prime minister, who has been in office for only five months, according to the official newspaper which will be published on Monday and of which Agence France-Presse (AFP) obtained a copy on Sunday, November 10.

Garry Conille was appointed at the beginning of June to try to stabilize the country which continues to sink into chaos, particularly due to gang violence. He will be replaced by businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, former candidate for the Senate in 2015 and former president of the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Haiti. The Boston University graduate had already been considered for prime minister as a private sector candidate before Gary Conille was appointed.

The decision to dismiss the latter from his position comes after weeks of conflict between the leader and the transition council. This authority wanted to change the heads of the ministries of justice, finance, defense and health, against the advice of the prime minister, according to the newspaper Miami Herald.

The Prime Minister assures that “the resolution of the presidential transitional council (…) is clearly tainted with illegality”in an email addressed to a person responsible for publishing the official journal, to which AFP had access.

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

A country without a president since 2021

After the resignation of controversial Prime Minister Ariel Henry in April, transitional authorities were put in place, with the difficult mission of restoring security and organizing elections, in a country ravaged by violence and corruption, and which has not had a president since the assassination of Jovenel Moïse in 2021.

In September, during a visit to Haiti, the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, called on the transitional authorities to move quickly towards elections. The last ones date back to 2016.

A 58-year-old doctor who was already Prime Minister of Haiti for six months between 2011 and 2012, Garry Conille was appointed by this transitional presidential council. In July, he had to be evacuated from a neighborhood in the capital Port-au-Prince where gang members had opened fire.

The gangs that rule much of the capital are accused of numerous murders, rapes, looting and kidnappings for ransom, a situation which worsened earlier this year, when they decided to join forces to overthrow the much-disputed former prime minister Ariel Henry.

The situation has continued to worsen 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 a little more than 400 men so far.

On Thursday, the United Nations warned of worsening hunger levels in the country. The wave of violence and a catastrophic humanitarian situation have forced more than 700,000 people, half of them children, to flee their homes to find refuge elsewhere in the country, according to the latest figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).