Senior Reporter
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
While Caricom and its international partners are confident that establishing a transitional presidential council will help restore order in Haiti, there is some scepticism.
Following a high-level meeting in Jamaica on Monday, Caricom chairman Dr Irfaan Ali, the President of Guyana, said stakeholders met to present options and ideas to Haitians so they could define and own their solutions to the socioeconomic crisis. At a press conference on Monday night, Ali called on partners to amplify the voice of Haitian stakeholders —political, civil and faith-based organisations—to arrive at a consensus on an effective and inclusive transitional structure to take the country towards general elections within a short time.
Ali said the situation in Haiti was deteriorating drastically and the country is on the brink of disaster. He said Caricom must take quick and decisive actions to return the country to the Haitian people and the difficult decision will have to be in the interest of the Haitian people.
“I am very confident that we have found commonality, that we have found a common path through which we can support a Haitian-led solution and a Haitian-owned solution for the prosperity of Haiti for the stability of Haiti,” Ali said.
In a statement, Caricom announced its commitment to a transitional governance arrangement for a peaceful transition of power, governance continuity, an action plan for near-term security and free and fair elections.
“This commitment reflects hard compromises among a diverse coalition of actors who have put their country above all differences,” the statement read.
Caricom also acknowledged that Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry will resign upon the establishment of the council and the naming of an interim prime minister.
However, weighing in on the issue, international relations expert Prof Andy Knight said the Haitian problem requires more than interventional forces.
Knight said Haiti was a failed state, with its government and security structures replaced by gangs and illicit groups and a transitional government would need to restore order with measures to bring a longer-term approach to dealing with violence.
He commended Caricom’s efforts but said the international community must bring an effective strategy to transform the failed security structure.
Knight said he was interested to see which countries will join the UN Security Council’s Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission to Haiti, as well as the actions of the larger countries responsible for Haiti’s deterioration. He said throwing money at the issue will not help, as the problem goes way back to France’s treatment of Haiti.
“These are long-term structural issues that cannot be resolved with a band-aid solution,” he said.
Knight does not have high hopes for a transitional government. He said the security, legal, and judicial systems need addressing all at once and it will take a long time to replace the failing structures with substantive and effective institutions.
“I think they will suffer the same challenge the previous government faced, the inability to govern. You cannot govern under those conditions where there is no security structure in place. The prison system is a mess, and the police force is a mess and penetrated by illicit forces within the country,” he said.
He said the transitional government also has to come from the people, building from the bottom up, but the gangs will not allow that to happen unless they are part of the solutions themselves. Knight said it would be a disaster for the people carrying out shootings and murders to be part of a governance arrangement.
Assembly of Caribbean People committee member David Abdulah reiterated the organisation’s statement that there should be no criminal gang members involved in restoring order to Haiti. He said some political parties on the council had close links to the gangs and some were part of former president Michel Martelly’s government. Canada sanctioned Martelly and two former prime ministers for gang financing in 2022.
“For example, Pitit Desalin is the party of Claude Joseph, former prime minister. They are tied to and have a relationship with Guy Philippe. He is one of the gang people and convicted of criminal offences, and he was in jail in the US. There are others as well that have ties to the gangs and people who were part of earlier governments,” Abdulah said.
Shortly before Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he would resign and Caribbean officials announced the creation of a transitional council, Jimmy Chérizier, a former elite police officer known as “Barbecue” who leads the G9 Family and Allies gang held an impromptu news conference and rejected any solution led and supported by the international community.
“It’s the Haitian people who know what they’re going through. It’s the Haitian people who are going to take destiny into their own hands. Haitian people will choose who will govern them,” he said.
It’s unclear whether Chérizier, considered Haiti’s most powerful gang leader, and other armed groups will accept the plan to create a transitional council.
The council will be responsible for appointing an interim prime minister, and the new leader will work with the council to select a council of ministers.