Haitian gang leader threatens civil war if PM doesn’t resign

There are mounting concerns that Haiti’s government is edging closer to collapse gang leaders are calling on the prime minister to step down he’s currently out of the country they’re predicting chaos if he tries to return the cbc’s Evan Dyer has spent time in Haiti and he described the violence threatening civil

Rule really there doesn’t appear to be anyone governing Haiti from uh from the Haitian government itself the police of course are trying to maintain a lid on the fighting which in the last few days has displaced I should say last couple of weeks has displaced about 15,000 more

People in Porter Prince and is also uh threatening the airport and in fact the airport is had to close the last commercial airlines flying in and out of Haiti had to suspend operations the police and the Army which is a very small uh Army that was just reformed

After being abolished uh and and defunct for many years are trying to take it back uh the airport is not actually in the hands of the gangs but the gangs have positions where they’re able to shoot at the airport terminal and incoming aircraft and so it’s just

Considered too unsafe so uh the real uh cause of concern for from the point of view of the arone re government is that they simply can’t get back into the country and that is because prime minister Ari lry traveled to Kenya uh in order to sign an agreement required by

The Kenyan Parliament before Kenya would agree to deploy police officers into the country Kenya has offered to lead a multinational Force to try to restore order in Haiti and it’s going to be joined by some Caribbean Nation who are also going to contribute such as Jamaica

But all of these uh countries have said that um you know that they they want conditions to improve they want the money that the UN has promised uh to pay to support this Mission uh that’s been offered by donor Nations such as the US and Canada to actually be be deposited

In the bank before they will go and on the way back from signing an agreement to allow Kenyan police to operate in Haiti uh the prime minister’s plane was diverted because the airport uh was lost he was not able to land he asked we’re told the Dominican Republic for

Permission to land there which of course shares the island of Hispanola with Haiti the idea being that he could land in Santa Domingo and then travel in the presidential helicopter into Haiti but the Dominican Republic told him no the Dominican Republic said it’s it’s border and airspace with Haiti are closed and

They will make no exceptions to allow Ariel HRI back in no love between those two countries no love lost I should say between those countries uh the US government has also refused to provide him with a military plane or escort to get back into although we did just see

The US ambassador to the UN deny that they’ve told him to resign there have been rumors that the US has told him that he must go certainly CARICOM leaders the leaders of the the uh the Caribbean Community Nations appear to be giving him that message and telling him

That if he wants their help to get back into Haiti uh he has to recognize that his time is up so Ari L appears to have been deserted by his foreign backers the ones who really put him in power the governments of the US uh the heads of

The UN in in Haiti Canada and so on but also has really no domestic support at all so it does appear very likely that the arone re government is now at an end and so Evan what what might come next well there’s no there’s a real

Vacuum of power in Haiti and in fact has been for some time because the country’s been unable to hold any elections so gradually one by one uh the mandates of every official in the country have expired right down to the last uh 10 members of the Senate who still had a

Valid mandate they’ve been essentially operating as elected Senators for the last couple of years every mayor in the country is in the same position Ari lry himself has no Democratic mandate uh and his vice president which is actually a very informal role not recognized in the Haitian Constitution at all Emily profet

Is also outside of the country so there are people within the country who are angling to take power and one of them is a former coup leader GE Philip uh who was involved in a coup that removed Jean Pon dared from Power about 20 years ago

Uh who at that point did appear to have backing from the US but who uh perhaps would be a little too controversial to step in now but he returned to the country a couple of weeks ago and is angling for power it’s just not clear

Who is going to take over but it does appear that the choice will be largely made by the foreign embassies who pay the budget of the Haitian government and the Haitian police who are really the only force in Haiti that is currently capable of resisting to some extent resisting the gangs

A gang leader threatened a ‘civil war’ if Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry does not resign. The country has been crumbling under gang attacks that have shuttered the main airport and prevented Henry from returning home.

Read more:

»»» Subscribe to CBC News to watch more videos:

Connect with CBC News Online:

For breaking news, video, audio and in-depth coverage:
Follow CBC News on TikTok:
Follow CBC News on Twitter:
Find CBC News on Facebook:
Follow CBC News on Instagram:
Subscribe to CBC News on Snapchat:

Download the CBC News app for iOS:
Download the CBC News app for Android:

»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
For more than 80 years, CBC News has been the source Canadians turn to, to keep them informed about their communities, their country and their world. Through regional and national programming on multiple platforms, including CBC Television, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBCNews.ca, mobile and on-demand, CBC News and its internationally recognized team of award-winning journalists deliver the breaking stories, the issues, the analyses and the personalities that matter to Canadians.

Reference