PortauPrince: Haiti’s transitional governing council on Tuesday appointed a new prime minister to lead the violence-plagued Caribbean nation, electing Harry Connelly, who served briefly from 2011 to 2012.
The move comes as Haiti awaits the deployment of Kenyan-led multinational forces to regain control of powerful and violent gangs that rule large parts of the capital.
Board members told AFP that Connell was elected by a 6-1 vote on Tuesday afternoon. Council chairman Edgard Leblanc and member Fritz Alphonse Jean also announced Connell’s election on social media.
The UN-backed security mission, which provided the United States with logistical support – but not shoes – was supposed to help Haiti’s weak police force defeat pirates.
Militants control much of the capital Port-au-Prince, as well as much of the countryside, and have long terrorized ordinary Haitians with random shootings, kidnappings and sexual violence.
The impoverished country has been plagued by poverty, natural disasters, political instability and violence for decades. Since the assassination of Jovenel Moise in 2021, it has no president and no parliament.
The Transitional Council last month ordered the resignation of Haiti’s popular and unelected prime minister, Ariel Henry, after a wave of armed bandits demanded his resignation.
The last election was in 2016, and the transitional council is struggling to assert its authority with food shortages, tens of thousands of people displaced and the health care system in danger of collapsing.
The deployment of Kenyan security forces took a new turn last week when it was reported that members of the group killed three missionaries, a Haitian and an American couple.
