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Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry has agreed to “share power” with the opposition as part of an agreement that paves the way for elections within a year, Antigua and Barbuda said on Wednesday during the Caribbean Community (Caricom) summit.
Henry – who has ruled Haiti since the death of President Jovenel Moïse on July 7, 2021 – has faced protests in recent weeks demanding his resignation from power, further exacerbating political instability in this country plagued by gang violence.
“We have come a long way,” Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne told reporters in Georgetown. “Henry is committed to acting as an honest broker and sharing power.”
The Haitian prime minister attended a “tough meeting” with other Caricom leaders in Guyana until Wednesday, Browne said.
“The opposition is uniting (…) and all that is needed is for the government to organize, meet and finalize the details. I am pretty sure this can be achieved in a short period of time,” he added.
Haiti, the region's poorest country, has not held elections since 2016 and presidential elections are scheduled for this year. An agreement reached after Moïse's death called for Henry to leave power in early February.
Last October, the UN Security Council approved the deployment of a multinational mission that was supposed to be led by Kenya but ran into legal obstacles in Nairobi.
Benin announced on Tuesday that it would initially send 2,000 soldiers to the Caribbean country as part of this mission.
Browne believed that the United States, France and Canada should play a more direct role in this operation.
“There is a minimum moral obligation to show leadership in solving this problem and not allow one group of developing countries to shoulder all the sacrifices of loss of life,” he said.
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