Haiti’s presidential council steps down with no succession plan

By Rédaction Africanews with agencies

Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council stepped down amid heavy security at the government office in Port-au-Prince on Saturday.

The tumultuous governance by the nine-member body, intended to curb the bloody gang conflict and bring about long-delayed elections, came to an end with no succession plan in place.

It ruled alongside a US-backed Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé who was expected to remain in power and will now be solely in charge of the country.

Negotiations to decide what, if anything, would replace the council are ongoing.

The transitional council’s term was marked by a deterioration in security, corruption accusations, and political infighting.

In January, Fils-Aimé, survived an attempt by the council to remove him, with members backing down as Washington threatened serious consequences if this were to take place.

The council’s plan to oust the prime minister for reasons not made public appeared to fall to the wayside as it stepped down in an official ceremony on Saturday.

“We need to put our personal interests to the side and continue progress for security,” said the council’s outgoing president, Laurent Saint-Cyr, who rejected a push to dismiss the prime minister.

Fils-Aimé now faces the daunting task of organising the country’s first general elections in a decade on his own.

Haiti last held polls in 2016 and has been without an elected president since the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moise.

Tentative dates were announced for August and December, but many experts believe it is unlikely an election and a run-off could be held this year.

The United Nations says gangs killed nearly 6,000 people in Haiti last year. About 1.4 million people, or 10 per cent of the population, have been displaced by the violence.