
Attacks, which included a shooting that claimed the life of a gang boss, erupted in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, on Thursday as political parties seemed closer to appointing a transition council to replace an outgoing administration.
Ernst Julme, also known as Ti Greg, was the boss of the Delmas 95 gang when he was slain by police in an apparent return of vigilante justice, sources and police confirmed. The killing occurred one day after the death of another gang leader.
The “Viv Ansanm” alliance led by gang boss Jimmy “Barbeque” Cherizier lost Julme, and this is a setback for the gangs’ efforts to expand their control over the city. Julme had just pulled off a huge jailbreak from the biggest prison in Haiti.
A U.N. official said that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of the United Nations welcomed news that political factions had chosen every member of a transitional council that would assume presidential responsibilities prior to upcoming elections.
The council’s job is to select a successor for Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who resigned on March 11 due to gang violence preventing him from returning to Haiti. The council was created with the intention of uniting the country’s divided political elite.
“The Secretary-General welcomes reports that Haitian stakeholders have all nominated representatives to the Transitional Presidential Council,” deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said at a media briefing.
Together with members of Haiti’s government and opposition, the intergovernmental Caribbean Community (CARICOM) mediated the transition plan in Jamaica. A list of political parties that will have representatives in the council was made public by CARICOM.
After Henry’s resignation, the nine-member council was supposed to be established in a few days, but certain political factions in Haiti were unable to come together behind a single representative.
A party that had first opposed the plan later changed its mind, while organizations that were not included in it objected to the reappointment of corrupt lawmakers from earlier administrations.
If politicians participate in the proposed council, Cherizier has promised to retaliate against them and their families.
While residents were fleeing shootings in the Petion-Ville area of the capital, heavy gunfire was heard on Thursday outside the National Palace, which is located off the Champ de Mars square in downtown Port-au-Prince, as the council appeared to be drawing to a close.
In what seemed to be a revival of the Bwa Kale civic vigilante movement, suspected gang members in Petion-Ville, which has been the target of attacks in recent days, were killed and set on fire on Wednesday. Among them was one leader by the name of Makandal.
Although Reuters was unable to confirm it, local media on Thursday said that there had been another Bwa Kale killing outside the capital.
The police are ill-prepared to combat heavily armed criminal organizations looking to increase their territorial control of the capital city, and the state has been mainly silent during the carnage. Henry asked for an international security mission in 2022, but plans for it are still pending.
According to Haq, the improvement of the political and security situations hinged on the prompt deployment of the international army.
He demanded the safety of people and declared that the United Nations will back the restoration of Haiti’s democratic institutions.
Because Haiti’s major airport is not safe, the U.N. and other international organizations, as well as embassies, have been using helicopters to evacuate their workers and other foreign nationals.
Late on Thursday, the Canadian government announced that the Canadian Armed Forces were collaborating with the Canadian Embassy in Haiti to support emergency preparations. It made the announcement in reaction to rumors that Canadian soldiers had been flown in to guard the Canadian embassy, however it did not provide any further details.
Ninety American citizens were flown out of Haiti on Thursday, joining the seventy that have been flown out since Sunday, from the northern city of Cap-Haitien to Miami and from Port-au-Prince to the Dominican Republic, according to a State Department official. (Reuters)
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