Haiti: Haiti’s Prime Minister Garry Conille has been dismissed by the country’s ruling council, less than six months after taking office. The decision, made by eight of the nine members of the Transitional Presidential Council (TPC), sees businessman and former Senate candidate Alix Didier Fils-Aime replace Conille as prime minister.
Conille, who was designated in June, had been charged with steering Haiti through its ongoing security crisis, worsened by gang violence, and overseeing the country’s first presidential elections since 2016. However, his removal has introduced serious concerns. Conille, described the ousting as illegal, stating that it was taken outside of Haiti’s constitutional framework.
Under Haiti’s constitution, only the parliament has the authority to remove a sitting prime minister, but the country presently has neither a president nor an active parliament. The TPC, created in April after Conille’s predecessor Ariel Henry was ousted by gang control, is accountable for restoring order in the country, where violence has led to more than 3,600 deaths and forced over 500,000 people from their homes since the start of the year.
With no president since the assassination of Jovenel Moise in 2021, the gang violence continues to deteriorate, with groups such as Jimmy Cherizier’s “Barbecue” offering to finalise the violence in exchange for participation in talks to establish a new government. As the security situation worsens, the UN reports that 2 million Haitians face trouble with hunger levels, with nearly half the population struggling to meet basic food needs.