HAITI | Garry Conille appointed new prime minister, gang members question the appointment

PORT-AU-PRINCE, May 29, 2024 - Haiti’s  nine member Transitional Presidential Council, has elected  Garry Conille as the embattled new prime minister. He replaces interim Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, who was appointed to the role after the previous prime minister, Ariel Henry, formally resigned in late April.

Conille, who was appointed by six out of seven members with voting power on the nine-member council, served as prime minister from October 2011 to May 2012, and  resigned after clashing with then-President Michel Martelly.

He is currently the UNICEF regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Only a month ago, Michel Patrick Boisvert had been named interim prime minister after Ariel Henry resigned in April due to the escalation of violence in the country. 

Since Feb. 29, gangs have captured airports, police stations, government ministries, prisons and other government facilities. Criminal gangs control most of the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and are responsible for widespread abuses including sexual violence, murder, kidnapping and torture.

Tuesday’s decision comes amid a period of turmoil for the country, which has seen gangs seize control over much of the capital, Port-au-Prince.

Since the assassination of then-President Jovenel Moise in July 2021, Haiti has not held a federal election.

Henry, an unelected official chosen days before the assassination, served as acting president in Moise’s stead after his shooting death.

But Henry’s failure to call a vote to replace Moise has heightened tensions in the country. In January 2023, the last elected federal officials – 10 senators – saw their terms expire.

In the meantime, the country’s gangs sought to fill the power vacuum, asserting power over upwards of 80 percent of Port-au-Prince, including roadways in and out of the city.

The United Nations estimates more than 362,000 Haitians have been displaced by the ensuing bloodshed. During the first three months of 2024 alone, gang violence has killed more than 1,500 people and injured hundreds more.

In March, Henry travelled to Kenya to shore up support for an international security mission to help bolster Haiti’s police. But while Henry was abroad, gangs attacked key prisons and police stations, as well as the capital’s airport, leaving him stranded outside of the country and demanding his resignation.

The Caribbean Community, CARICOM along with the United States and Canada, negotiated the creation of a transitional council to restore Haiti’s democracy.

Conille’s appointment as prime minister came as the result of a six-to-one vote. Since 2023, he has served as a Latin America regional director for UNICEF, a UN agency that offers humanitarian aid to children.

Last month, four of the transitional council’s seven voting members chose a former sport minister, Fritz Belizaire, to fill the post, only to walk back the announcement after critics said the proper protocols had not been followed.

While questions continue to swirl as to gow Conille was chosen to be prime minister, a report out of Al Jazeera says “The suffering of the people is getting worse, while the gangs are taking control of more territory and committing more crimes,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday, urging “consequential measures” to restore stability in Haiti.

Meanwhile, gang leaders have warned they will not necessarily accept the transitional council or its choices.

“We’re not going to recognise the decisions that CARICOM takes,” Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, the leader of the G9 Family and Allies gang, told Al Jazeera in March.