Attacks, including a shooting that left a gang leader dead, flared in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, on Thursday as political groups appeared nearer to finalizing a transition council to take over from an absent government.
A police operation killed the head of the Delmas 95 gang, Ernst Julme, known as Ti Greg, a day after another gang leader was killed in an apparent resurgence of vigilante justice, police and sources confirmed.
The death of Julme, a member of gang leader Jimmy “Barbeque” Cherizier’s “Viv Ansanm” alliance, marks a setback for gangs’ moves to take over more of the city. Julme had recently escaped from Haiti’s largest prison in a mass jailbreak.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed reports that political groups had selected all members of a transitional council that would take over presidential powers ahead of future elections, a U.N. spokesperson said.
The council, intended to bring together Haiti’s fractured political class, is tasked with appointing a replacement to Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who announced his resignation on March 11as gang violence prevented his return to the country.
“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.
The transition plan was brokered in Jamaica by the intergovernmental Caribbean Community (CARICOM), alongside representatives of Haiti’s government and opposition. CARICOM released a list of political groups that would be represented in the council.
The nine-member council had been expected to be finalized within a few days of Henry’s resignation, but some Haitian political factions were unable to unite behind one representative.
One party rejected the plan, then backtracked, while groups left out of the plan criticized the return of politicians from previous administrations seen as corrupt.
Cherizier has threatened reprisals against politicians and their families if they take part in the proposed council.
