PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC -Garry Conille, 58, who previously served as prime minister under President Michel Martelly’s administration, was sworn into office on Monday at a short ceremony in Port au Prince’s capital.
“Let’s get to work, and I assure you that we will deliver what we promised,” said Conille, a former United Nations official who took over from interim prime minister Patrick Boisvert, as efforts continue in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to restore peace and security that has been a challenge ever since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated at his private residence in July 2021.
Conille received the nod from the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC), which has run the country since Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry’s resignation in April.
TPC president Egard Leblanc Fils said that the new prime minister will form a government in consultation with the TPC.
“We are counting on Dr. Conille to implement the policies agreed with the presidential council in order to address the problem of insecurity in particular, as well as to improve the country’s economy, reform its institutions, and hold credible, democratic and free elections, by the end of 2025,” he added.
Conille, a medical doctor by training, served as Haiti’s premier for a short period in 2011-2012 and was, until recently, regional director for UNICEF, the UN aid agency.
In May, when he was selected to lead the government, Conille thanked the civil society groups, political parties, and members of the Haitian diaspora who proposed him as a candidate, saying he was “very honored” to have been chosen.
“I feel very honored that the Presidential Council has chosen me as the new Prime Minister of Haiti. I want to thank all the civil society organizations, political parties, and diaspora members who proposed my name among the other candidates. Together, we will work for a better future for our nation’s children,” he said in a statement on the X social media platform.
Conille now faces a monumental task, with Haiti under siege by gangs that control at least 80 percent of the capital as the country awaits the UN-backed deployment of a police force from Kenya.
Last month, on an official visit to the United States, Kenyan President William Ruto defended his country’s decision to lead the UN-based multinational security support (MSS), saying, “This is a crisis.
Ruto said that “gangs and criminals do not have nationalities, they have no religion, they have no language, their language is one to deal with them firmly, decisively within the parameters of the law.
“And that’s why we are building a coalition of nations beyond Kenya and the US, many of whom are making contributions towards the MSS in Haiti to secure that country and to break the back of the gangs and the criminals that have visited untold suffering in that country,” Ruto added.
The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Chad, Jamaica, and Kenya have officially notified the Secretary-General of their intent to contribute personnel to the support mission.
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