Haiti’s transitional presidential council appointed a new prime minister on Tuesday, hoping to quell the deadly gang violence that has plagued the Caribbean country in recent months.
The council voted for the little-known former sports minister Fritz Bélizaire to replace interim prime minister Michel Patrick Boisvert, who led Haiti following his predecessor’s resignation. After announcing his resignation in March, former prime minister Ariel Henry formally resigned last week as he ceded power to the transitional council.
The nine-member body, of which seven have voting rights and four voted in favor of Bélizaire, sought to find a new prime minister and cabinet as Haitian gangs continued destabilizing the country.
From late February to early March, gang-led violence erupted in the capital of Port-au-Prince to oust Henry from power while he was overseas. The former leader was visiting Kenya asking a United Nations–backed police force to restore order to Haiti when the uprising broke out.
Since then, Henry has been unable to return to his country. When denied entry to the Dominican Republic, which shares its border with Haiti, he instead landed in Puerto Rico following his diplomatic visit to the East African nation.
The council is expected to authorize the U.N.-backed Kenyan police force’s deployment, but it’s unclear when that will occur.
Haiti has been plagued by gang violence since the 2021 assassination of prime minister Jovenel Moïse, but the civil turmoil has only gotten worse in the past two months, with gangs leading attacks on prisons, banks, police stations, and the Port-au-Prince airport.
More than 90,000 people have fled the Haitian capital over the course of one month, according to the Associated Press, and over 360,000 people have been displaced across Haiti within recent years due to the civil uproar.
Gunfire could be heard throughout Port-au-Prince as the transitional council held its votes on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, Edgard Leblanc Fils was chosen as the council’s president. The governing body will continue leading the unstable nation until February 2026, when new elections will be held.