Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders this week continued with top secret efforts to coax politically warring political parties and civil society groups in Haiti to form an interim government to help stabilize the strife-torn country even as some nominees say they are worried about their personal safety.
For the past two weeks, regional leaders have been meeting or attempting to hold virtual meetings with the recently established nine-member interim council of seven political parties and two non-voting civil society members representing the private sector and religious organizations. Several such sessions were scheduled for this past weekend, but some were postponed at the request of the council as members struggled with internal issues.
Efforts to appoint an interim government to fill the void left by long-delayed general elections and the expiration of constitutional office tenures have been going on in earnest for most of the past year, with the 15-nation Caricom bloc playing the lead role in helping to form a government.
Haiti was the last country to join Caricom back in 2002. It is the grouping’s most populous but troubled member state. Haiti has been in the throes of civil unrest linked to violence at the hands of heavily armed gangs controlling and roaming areas in the capital, Port Au Prince, especially since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.
In recent weeks, Caricom has been able to work with local stakeholders to form the nine-member interim government or presidential council. Caricom has insisted that it is only playing the role of facilitator and that Haitian stakeholders will have to do the “dirty work” once an interim government is in place.
The council encountered a major setback at the weekend when one of the major political party nominees withdrew her name as a potential cabinet member amid death and other threats, officials said. The withdrawal of Dominique Dupuy, representing the Compromis Historique/RED/EDE coalition, came as representatives from western nations—including the U.S., Canada, and France—were meeting on Sunday with council members to discuss security and related matters for them once they were sworn in. Officials said that the coalition was quickly able to replace Dupuy and is now back to full strength.
Dupuy is Haiti’s ambassador to UNESCO. She has said that she will remain at the UN and continue serving Haiti.
The council is now scheduled to meet with leaders later on Monday to discuss the latest events and continue the push to form an interim government that would stabilize the worsening security situation, prepare for fresh elections by mid-next year, and give comfort to the deployment of a multinational security force. The government will also form a security council once in office.
Monday’s scheduled meeting between the two sides would be the third effort in as many days to meet virtually. The council had twice asked for a postponement over the weekend as it struggled with its own internal issues, including the withdrawal of Dupuy. Dupuy announced her resignation from the council late Sunday via video message.
“The Haitian people have been waiting for results for far too long. Despite stepping down from the presidential council, I pledge to continue representing Haiti admirably at UNESCO and vow my ongoing commitment to defend the Haitian people,” said Dupuy.
Even as Caricom leaders nervously wait for the council to settle down so it can be formally unveiled to the world and be sworn in, there have been rumblings from at least one of the two civil society members, who is demanding the right to vote, according to the Haitian Times.
René Jean-Jumeau is beginning to hint that he will walk away from the council because of his inability to cast a vote, leaving it with additional problems. “I cannot, in good conscience, accept a role as an observer without the ability to act,” he said on local radio and the X social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Any delays in ensuring that the council is up and running means that the long-promised multinational security force headed to Haiti will be further put on hold because there is no actual government to host it.
