PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Haiti’s government on Tuesday published a decree naming the members of a transitional council set to take power, inching toward stability after Prime Minister Ariel Henry left a political void when he announced his resignation last month.
Haiti’s outgoing government signed off on the transition process, a long-awaited move after Henry said he would step down. Alliances of heavily armed gangs have threatened to completely take over the capital since he left the country in February.
The gang conflict escalated in his absence, prompting ports and the capital’s airport to remain closed, shutting off many citizens from access to food and healthcare while gangs continue to attack areas they do not yet control.
At least 360,000 have been displaced and nearly half the country is going hungry.
The all-male voting members are former central bank governor Fritz Alphonse Jean, former ambassador to the Dominican Republic Smith Augustin, barrister Emmanuel Vertilaire, former senate president Edgard Leblanc, ex-senator Louis Gerald Gilles and businessman Laurent Saint-Cyr, who served on another transition council Henry appointed a year ago.
The non-voting observers are evangelical pastor Frinel Joseph and Regine Abraham, who once worked for the World Bank and the country’s environment ministry.
(Reporting by Harold Isaac and Sarah Morland; Editing by Kylie Madry)
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