The interim prime minister of Haiti, Garry Conille, took office this Wednesday, thus ending the process initiated by the Presidential Council to fill the political vacuum in the Caribbean country after the resignation of Ariel Henry amid the wave of violence in the Caribbean country.
“It is with deep humility and great responsibility that I stand before you as the new Prime Minister of the Republic of Haiti. At this crucial moment in our history as a people, as we go through an unprecedented health, humanitarian and governance crisis, I feel the weight of this task. “, he noted during the ceremony.
Conille has highlighted that it is “in these moments of crisis when the true character of a nation is revealed.” “I commit to you, dear fellow citizens, to serve our nation with integrity, transparency and dedication. My government will work tirelessly to improve the situation,” he added, as reported by the national radio and television channel RTNH.
The ceremony took place at the Haitian presidential residence, located in the capital, Port-au-Prince. In addition to Conille, his 14 ministers have taken office just one day after the official Haitian newspaper, ‘Le Moniteur’, published a decree by which the Government was officially constituted.
Among the main names in his cabinet is Dominique Dupuy, representative of Haiti to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Conille, in addition to being prime minister, will hold the Interior portfolio.
The formation of the cabinet will allow the deployment of the so-called Multinational Security Support Mission, led by Kenya and supported by the United States, with the aim of containing the wave of criminal violence in Haiti.
Haiti’s Presidential Transition Council took office in April and named the former top representative of the Haitian Senate between 1995 and 2000, Edgard Leblanc, as its president. The body elected the now prime minister at the end of May.
The wave of violence, which hit the airports at a time when the head of Government was on an official visit to Kenya, forced the previous Executive to declare a state of emergency and a curfew after a massive escape of prisoners. of the two main prisons in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
One of the country’s great criminal leaders, Jimmy Chérizier, alias ‘Barbecue’, launched an attack on the then Prime Minister Ariel Henry, whom he threatened to plunge the country into a “civil war” if he did not resign in the midst of the chaos. the domination of the gangs over Port-au-Prince and its surroundings, consolidated after the assassination in 2021 of President Jovenel Moise.
Henry, who came to power in July 2021 – two days before Moise’s assassination, so he was not sworn into office – finally resigned after an emergency meeting of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) with delegations. from other countries such as the United States or France and promised to leave office once the Presidential Council named his successor.