KINGSTON, Jamaica
\nHaiti\u2019s prime minister agreed late Monday to step aside as armed gangs plunge his country into anarchy, as he accepted a regional push for a transition that sets the stage for international intervention.
\nCaribbean nations secured Ariel Henry\u2019s resignation at an emergency meeting in Jamaica where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered another $100 million to pave the way for the security force, which will be led by Kenya.
\nGangs have taken over much of the Western Hemisphere\u2019s poorest country and in recent weeks the crisis has grown even more violent, with bodies strewn across the streets, armed bandits looting basic infrastructure and fears rising of a famine.
\n\u201cThe government I lead cannot remain insensitive to this situation. As I have always said, no sacrifice is too great for our homeland Haiti,\u201d Henry said in a resignation address that he posted online.
\nGang leaders had demanded the departure of Henry who, while speaking of himself as a transitional figure, had remained in power since 2021 when Haiti\u2019s president was assassinated. Haiti has not held an election since 2016.
\nGuyana\u2019s President Irfaan Ali, who chairs the Caribbean regional body CARICOM, announced after a weekend of diplomacy that Henry would leave once a new transitional authority is in place.
\nAli saluted Henry, saying that the prime minister \u2014 stranded in Puerto Rico as Haiti\u2019s main airport is no longer functioning \u2014 \u201chas assured us in his actions, in his words, of his selfless intent.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd that selfless intent was to see Haiti succeed,\u201d Ali said.
\nBlinken, who spent seven hours inside the talks in a Kingston hotel, confirmed Henry\u2019s resignation in a telephone call initiated by the prime minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley.
\nA US official traveling with Blinken said that Henry had agreed to quit on Friday but was waiting for the Kingston conference to sort out details of the transition.
\nAlso raised were ways to prevent reprisals against Henry and his allies, with the United States agreeing that the outgoing prime minister would be welcome to stay on US soil if he feels unsafe in Haiti, the official said.
\nSenior officials from Brazil, Canada, France and Mexico joined the talks. CARICOM, in a statement with its partners and the United Nations, said that Haiti\u2019s new Transitional Presidential Council would have seven voting members who make decisions by a majority vote.
\nThe seven will include representatives of major political parties, the private sector and the Montana Group, a civil society coalition that had proposed an interim government in 2021 after President Jovenel Moise\u2019s assassination.
\nThere will also be two non-voting seats on the council \u2014 one for civil society and another for the church.
\nAuthority has badly eroded in Haiti. A nighttime curfew was extended through Thursday \u2014 although it is unlikely overstretched police can enforce it.
\nJamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the host of the crisis talks, warned that Haiti risked all-out civil war.
\n\u201cIt is clear that Haiti is now at a tipping point,\u201d he said, urging \u201cstrong and decisive action\u201d to \u201cstem the sea of lawlessness and hopelessness before it is too late.\u201d
\nUS vows support
\nBlinken promised another $100 million to back an international stabilization force, bringing the total pledged by the United States to $300 million since the crisis intensified several years ago.
\nBlinken also offered another $33 million in immediate humanitarian assistance.
\nEscalating violence \u201ccreates an untenable situation for the Haitian people, and we all know that urgent action is needed on both the political and security tracks,\u201d Blinken said.
\n\u201cAll of us know that only the Haitian people can, and only the Haitian people should, determine their own future \u2014 not anyone else,\u201d Blinken said.
\nBut he said the United States and its partners \u201ccan help restore foundational security\u201d and address \u201cthe tremendous suffering\u201d in Haiti.
\nPresident Joe Biden \u2014 who ended the US war in Afghanistan \u2014 has ruled out putting troops in harm\u2019s way in Haiti, which the United States occupied for nearly two decades a century ago and where it has intervened since.
\nEyes initially turned to Canada, but it also decided a Haiti mission was too dangerous with success uncertain.
\nCanada, however, has offered $91 million for Haiti, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised continued support as he addressed the Kingston summit remotely.
\nKenya stepped forward but was set back by a domestic court ruling against the deployment.
\nThe plan again picked up steam after Henry visited Nairobi and agreed on a \u201creciprocal\u201d exchange of forces between the two countries. But with violence soaring, Henry was unable to return to Haiti, landing in Puerto Rico after the Dominican Republic declined to take him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, Jamaica Haiti\u2019s prime minister agreed late Monday to step aside as armed gangs plunge his country into anarchy, as he accepted a regional push for a transition that sets the stage for international intervention. Caribbean nations secured Ariel Henry\u2019s resignation at an emergency meeting in Jamaica where US Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-393349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n