Kenya Insights

Tag: Haiti

  • Haiti’s New PM Hospitalized

    Haiti’s New PM Hospitalized

    Haiti’s new interim prime minister, Garry Conille, is in stable condition after being hospitalized for an unspecified illness on Saturday afternoon, his office said.

    Conille, 58, who took office just over a week ago, was rushed to hospital after suffering breathing problems, local media reported earlier. His office did not provide details on the cause of his hospitalization.

    “Following a week of intense activities, the Prime Minister … had a slight illness on the afternoon of Saturday June 8, 2024 and went to the hospital for treatment,” his office said in a statement.

    “His situation is stable for the moment,” it added.

    Reuters images showed several ambulances and police officers outside a hospital in a suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince where Conille was reportedly undergoing treatment.

    Conille had briefly led the country over a decade ago, and was most recently a former regional director at U.N. children’s agency UNICEF.

    He was named interim prime minister on May 29 by a transition council with the mandate to restore stability and take back control from violent gangs.

    The transition council aims to hold elections before Feb. 7, 2026, as laid out in Haiti’s constitution, after a series of crises in the country’s leadership.

    President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in 2021, leaving Haiti to this day without a president, while Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned in March this year after he left Haiti to seek support for the Kenyan security mission and was unable to re-enter the country.

  • Haiti President Jovenel Moise Assassinated At Home

    Haiti President Jovenel Moise Assassinated At Home

    Haiti President Jovenel Moise was assassinated at his home early Wednesday morning by a group of armed individuals, interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph announced.

    Joseph said he was now in charge of the country.

    Moise’s injured wife was in the hospital, according to Joseph, who urged the public to remain calm, and insisted the police and army would ensure the population’s safety.

    “The president was assassinated at his home by foreigners who spoke English and Spanish,” Joseph said.

    Moise had been ruling Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, by decree, after legislative elections due in 2018 were delayed in the wake of disputes, including on when his own term ends.

    In addition to the political crisis, kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months, further reflecting the growing influence of armed gangs in the Caribbean nation.

    Haiti also faces chronic poverty and recurrent natural disasters.

    The president faced steep opposition from swathes of the population that deemed his mandate illegitimate, and he churned through a series of seven prime ministers in four year. Most recently, Joseph was supposed to be replaced this week after only three months in the post.

    In addition to presidential, legislative and local elections, Haiti was due to have a constitutional referendum in September after it was twice postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

    Supported by Moise, the text of the constitutional reform, aimed at strengthening the executive branch, has been overwhelmingly rejected by the opposition and many civil society organizations.

    The constitution currently in force was written in 1987 after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship and declares that “any popular consultation aimed at modifying the Constitution by referendum is formally prohibited.”

    Source: AFP