TRANSCRIPT
Haiti's prime minister, Ariel Henry, has announced he will resign once a transitional presidential council is created.
(French, then translated) "After the council of ministers tonight accepted to put into place a transitional presidential council, the members of the council will be picked after agreement with different sectors of the national life. The government I am running will remove itself immediately after the establishment of said council."
The President of Guyana, Irfaan Ali, at the Caribbean Community and Common Market [[CARICOM]] meeting in Jamaica, acknowledged Mr Henry's resignation, and announced the formation of a transitional presidential council.
"We are pleased to announce the commitment to a transitional governance arrangement, which paves the way for a peaceful transition of power, continuity of governance, and an action plan for near-term security, and the road to free and fair elections, and seeks to assure that Haiti will be governed by the rule of law. This commitment reflects hard compromises among a diverse coalition of actors who have put their country above all differences. To that end, we acknowledge the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry upon the establishment of a transitional presidential council, and the naming of an interim prime minister."
Mr Henry came to power following the assassination of of former President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.
His unelected governance, and repeated election postponements, have been drawing criticism from Haitians, with the situation worsening after he refused to step down voluntarily by February of this year.
Mr Henry not stepping down last week sparked a fresh round of attacks and kidnappings by armed gangs in the capital, Port-au-Prince, that began in July of 2022.
Armed gangs massively grew their wealth, influence and territory under Mr Henry's administration, prompting him to travel to Kenya in late February to secure its support for a United Nations-backed security mission to help police.
Kenya was prepared last week to deploy police officers to Haiti, but since Mr Henry's resignation, the African nation has decided to pause the deployment.
U-S State Department spokesman Matthew Miller says this is best for now.
"What the Kenyan government said in its statement is that they have to have a government with which to collaborate, which has been an important part of their understanding. It's perfectly natural thing to expect that they want to know that there's a government that can host them, that can make a request for them to deploy a mission. So right now, as you wait for the appointment of a presidential transition council, which would appoint then a new government, a new prime minister, I think that's an appropriate step for the Kenyan government to take."
The dramatic escalation in violence over the past week has left Mr Henry, who is 74-years-old, unable to return to Haiti, where he has been threatened with assassination.
He is calling for calm.
(French, then translated) "Haiti wants peace. Haiti needs stability. Haiti needs sustainable development. Haiti needs to rebuild democratic institutions. I'm asking all Haitians to remain calm and do everything they can for peace and stability to come back as fast as possible for the good of the country."
The chaos that has ensued over the past 12 days has led to an acute food shortage with World Food Programme Country Director in Haiti Jean-Martin Bauser calling for a humanitarian response.
"What's going on over the past few days has me very worried, and I'm ringing the alarm bell because you have this baseline level of hunger that's already very high and this is worsening things even more. What we're seeing is an increase in violence. We're seeing an increase in population displacement with 15,000 newly displaced people over the first weekend of March, bringing the total number of displaced people in Haiti to above 360,000."
As Haiti prepares itself for a new leadership, the residents of Port-au-Prince are enjoying a brief respite from the violence that took over the capital, allowing them to carry on with their daily lives.
Shoemaker Silverdieu Petit-Noé, a resident of Port-au-Prince, says Haitians now need to unite.
(Creole, then translated) "It is real now that the Prime Minister is resigning, and Haitians have a duty to listen and to see if we can find someone who can bring together all society and put the country back on track."
