Uneasy quiet in Haiti capital after prime minister pledges to step down

Uncertainty hangs over Haiti as it waits for a new government following the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

The move has been welcomed by Haitians, who are exhausted from months of escalating gang violence. But while the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince appeared largely calm on Tuesday, the security situation is still far from settled.

Henry, stranded in Puerto Rico, released a video late on Monday night pledging to resign as soon as a transition council and temporary leader were chosen.

Following talks in Jamaica between Caribbean leaders and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US officials said the council should be appointed by Wednesday or Thursday.

Michel Boisvert, Haiti’s acting prime minister while Henry was abroad, has signalled willingness to facilitate an orderly transition, a US State Department official said.

There were signs in the capital, Port-au-Prince, of an improvement in the security situation on Tuesday, with the streets quiet and no attacks on government offices or police stations reported.

The main CPS cargo port had reopened, local news outlet Le Nouvelliste reported, and some fuel from the Varreux facility near the port had been allowed out.

The capital’s airport has not resumed operations, but armed men who had taken control of it were no longer present.

Still, Radio Television Caraibes, one of Haiti’s oldest and largest TV stations, said it had to leave its headquarters in central Port-au-Prince, citing the insecurity.

In another potential setback, a senior Kenyan diplomatic official told Reuters that plans to deploy its police officers to Haiti to lead a UN-backed security mission were on pause pending “a clear indication” that a new interim government was in place.

The long-delayed mission is intended to boost outgunned local police and restore order in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation.