Haiti council moves to replace PM
PORT-AU-PRINCE—Haiti’s transitional council has moved to replace Prime Minister Garry Conille, according to an official gazette bulletin seen on Sunday by Agence France-Presse (AFP), as a power struggle threatens to plunge the crisis-wracked nation into fresh chaos.
The nine-member council’s decision, dated for publication on Monday, Nov. 11, seeks to push out Conille after just five months in office and replace him with businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aime.
The bulletin says the council agreed by consensus on Nov. 8 to remove Conille, a former UN official and academic tapped in May to lead the struggling Caribbean nation as it confronts soaring, long-standing political instability.
Conille, 58, has sent a letter to the transitional council asking for the decision not to be officially published, according to a copy obtained by AFP.
The two sides have been locked in a power struggle for weeks, with the council wanting to change the ministers of justice, finance, defense and health against the prime minister’s wishes, according to the Miami Herald.
And Conille sent the council a letter this week seeking the resignation of three of its members accused of corruption.
It was not immediately clear if the council—whose members represent various political and civil society groups—even has the power to dismiss Conille.
The council is a new body that is not mentioned in the constitution and it was not approved by parliament because Haiti does not have a sitting legislature.
The country has not held elections since 2016, widening a political vacuum that has worsened existing security and health crises.
Gang violence
Despite the arrival of a Kenyan-led police support mission, gang violence has continued to soar in Haiti.
The United Nations reported late last month that over 1,200 people were killed from July through September, with persistent kidnappings and sexual violence against women and girls.
