Haiti Names New Prime Minister to Steer Country Out of Crisis

Garry Conille, an experienced international aid official, was unanimously appointed prime minister of Haiti by a Presidential Transition Council on Tuesday. His mandate is to lead the country out of its current crisis until presidential elections can be held.

Conille’s appointment coincides with the start of a U.N.-backed security mission led by Kenyan police, aimed at restoring political stability and tackling armed gangs controlling large parts of Port-au-Prince.

Fluent in English, French, and Creole, Conille has a 25-year career with the United Nations and other aid agencies. He briefly served as Haiti’s prime minister over a decade ago during the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake.

However, Conille has spent much of the past few years outside Haiti, and his domestic political skills will be tested by the volatile situation he will encounter as prime minister.

He will not face political battles with Haiti’s Parliament, which has been vacant for months due to the country’s inability to hold elections amid the violence and turmoil.

“He is a safe choice to appease the international community, but he’s also spent the last two decades working mostly outside Haiti in the U.N. system,” said Jake Johnston, a Haiti expert at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

A doctor by training, Conille also holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of North Carolina. He helped coordinate Haiti’s reconstruction efforts after the 2010 earthquake, which the Haitian government says killed 316,000 people.

In 2011, he became prime minister but resigned four months later after clashing with then-President Michel Martelly over a corruption investigation involving reconstruction contracts.

Conille, 58, succeeds Michel Patrick Boisvert, who was named interim prime minister after Ariel Henry resigned in late April. Henry was forced to step down after being effectively locked out of the country by gang violence that closed Port-au-Prince’s international airport, preventing his return from a trip to Kenya to sign the U.N.-backed security mission agreement.

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