Haiti's Presidential Transitional Council Accuses Outgoing Ariel Henry Administration of Stymying Agreement

PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – The members of Haiti's Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) have called for it to be installed “as soon as possible” while accusing the Ariel Henry government of seeking to introduce “major modifications” that could further stall the process of bringing about peace and security to the country.

In a statement, the political, economic, religious and civil society organizations, said they also want the Council to be installed in “the form and content defined in the Political Agreement for a Peaceful and Orderly Transition of April 3, 2024”.

They said they are “deeply shocked” upon learning of the decree published last Friday by the Henry government and “denounce the introduction of major modifications which distort the consensual project of a two-headed executive carried by the Presidential Transitional Council, consensus patiently and laboriously built between Stakeholders from March 11, 2024”.

Prime Minister Henry, who was sworn in as prime minister with the backing of the international community shortly after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, has already indicated that he would step down once the CPT is officially installed and a new prime minister sworn in ahead of the fresh elections.

Henry is stranded in Puerto Rico having been unable to return home from Kenya where he witnessed the signing of an agreement that would allow the African country to lead a United Nations Security Council sanctioned Multinational Security Mission (MSS) to restore peace and security in Haiti.

But in their statement, the members of the CPT said that Henry and “his resigning government have deliberately chosen not to respect the commitments to which they subscribed, through their direct representatives grouped within the Agreement of December 21” and communicated to the CARICOM governments on April 1 this year.

They further argue that Henry and his government “chose not to publish, or even mention, the Political Agreement of April 3, 2024 in the decree of April 12 creating the Presidential Transitional Council and not to make public Le Moniteur Spécial No. 14-A relating to the “Order appointing the Members of the Presidential Transitional Council”.

“ However, it should be remembered that Prime Minister Ariel Henry came to power in exceptional circumstances linked to the assassination on July 7, 2021 of President Jovenel Moise, thanks to three political agreements, two of which were published in Le Moniteur .

The  nine groups and political parties also recall that  in the absence of the Political Agreements of September 11, 2021 and December 21, 2022, “no member of the current Cabinet would have been eligible to be Minister or Prime Minister based on the provisions of the constitution.

“Stakeholders remain committed to the consensus built from March 11, 2024. Consensus which is codified in the Agreement for a Peaceful and Orderly Transition signed on April 3, 2024 between different actors, including the signatories of the Agreement of 21 December 2022.”

The members said that they “demand strict compliance with the commitments to which the resigning government made during the CARICOM-led political process”.

They said that the government had called for the political agreement to be published in the official Le Moniteur, as well as the document relating to the organization and functioning of the Presidential Council.

The members said the government also agreed to “connect the bipartisan transfer of powers commissions” and “install as soon as possible the Presidential Transitional Council in the form and content defined in the Political Agreement for a Peaceful and Orderly Transition of April 3, 2024”.

The council is to be made up of seven voting members selected across Haiti’s political spectrum, and two non-voting observers.

Last weekend both the UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the 15-member CARICOM grouping welcomed the establishment of the CPT.

For his part, Guterres urged “all Haitian stakeholders to continue making progress in putting in place transitional governance arrangements, including the timely appointment of an interim Prime Minister and government, and the nomination of the members of the Provisional Electoral Council”.

CMC/af/ir/2024