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New Haiti govt to be formed Tuesday, Ariel Henry as PM

Updated: 2021-07-20 04:48
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In this file photo Haiti's interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph speaks during a press conference in Port-au Prince on July 11, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haiti's interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who has run the country since the assassination of president Jovenel Moise, will step down to make way for a new government headed by the man Moise handpicked days before his killing, an official said Monday.

The new government -- due to take over on Tuesday -- will not have a president, and will be tasked with organizing fresh elections "as soon as possible," said the government official, who is close to the prime minister's office.

Moise had tapped Ariel Henry to replace Joseph as prime minister just days before the controversial Haitian president was shot dead in his home in Port-au-Prince in the early hours of July 7. Henry will now assume the post.

In the hours after the assassination, Joseph declared a "state of siege" and said he was in charge, launching a power tussle in the violence-wracked, impoverished Caribbean nation. Monday's announcement would seem to put an end to that uncertainty.

The United States welcomed the move, saying it was "encouraged to see Haitian political and civil actors working to form a unity government that can stabilize the country."

Haiti has no working parliament and no workable succession process, and was already mired deep in a political and security crisis when the 53-year-old Moise was killed.

"For several days, Claude Joseph and Ariel Henry have been holding a number of working meetings that will lead to the formation of an inclusive government with Ariel Henry as Prime Minister," said the official.

"There will be no president of the Republic. The mission of this new government will be to organize general elections as soon as possible," he added.

Joseph will return to his former post as foreign minister in the new government.

AFP

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