Port-au-Prince [Haiti], April 13 : Haiti has created a transitional council responsible for choosing the next leadership following weeks of uncertainty, CNN reported, citing a decree published in Haiti's state journal.
The move comes a month after Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced he would step down once the council is inaugurated and names a new prime minister and cabinet.
The council comprising seven voting members and two non-voting observers has been asked to choose and appoint a new prime minister and an "impartial" electoral council, according to the decree.
It will exercise certain presidential powers until a new president-elect is inaugurated, which must take place no later than February 7, 2026, CNN reported.
The council's mandate will end on that date and it cannot have an extension, as per the decree, according to CNN report.
The members of the council are Fritz Alphonse Jean, Louis Gerald Gilles, Edgard Leblanc Fils, Emmanuel Vertilaire, Smith Augustin, Lesly Voltaire, Laurent Saint Cyr, Frinel Joseph and Regine Abraham, according to a press release from the council.
In a statement, the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) welcomed the development. The statement reads, "The establishment of the nine-member broad-based, politically inclusive Council signals the possibility of a new beginning for Haiti."
According to CARICOM, one of the priorities of the newly created council will be to urgently address the security situation in the region. CARICOM, which worked with Haiti in March, to create a framework for the transitional council, noted that challenges still lie ahead and committed to supporting Haiti as it determines its future.
Since February, an insurgent alliance of gangs attacks in Port-au-Prince have made the city's international airport and seaport nonfunctional, breaking vital supply lines of food and aid and leading to an exodus of evacuation flights for foreign nationals, CNN reported.
Aid workers have warned that more and more people in Haiti are going hungry. According to the United Nations, nearly 5 million people in Haiti are suffering from acute food insecurity, CNN reported.
World Food Programme's country director Jean-Martin Bauer has described the situation in Haiti as the worst humanitarian crisis to hit the Caribbean nation since the 2010 earthquake.
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