PORT-AU-PRINCE – Businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aime was sworn in as Haiti’s new prime minister on Nov. 11, vowing to restore security and address gang violence in the crisis-stricken country.

Fils-Aime replaced Garry Conille, who was appointed in May, when a gun attack on a low-cost US airliner landing in the capital illustrated the enormity of his challenge.

“We have a transition with a lot of work to do: the first essential task, which is a condition for success, is to restore security,” Fils-Aime said in his first statements.

He said he was aware of the “difficult circumstances” in Haiti, but promised to put “all my energy, my skills and my patriotism at the service of the national cause.”

After being appointed just five months ago, outgoing Prime Minister Conille was ousted by the nine-member transitional council on November 10 following a power struggle over ministerial appointments.

He has questioned the council’s authority to fire him, and the dispute threatens to create more instability in Haiti, which has been without a president since the assassination of leader Jovenel Moise in 2021.

There is also no functioning Parliament and the last elections were held in 2016.

The Caribbean nation has long struggled with political instability, poverty, natural disasters and gang violence.

But conditions worsened dramatically in late February when armed groups launched coordinated attacks in the capital, Port-au-Prince, saying they wanted to overthrow then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Unelected and unpopular, Henry resigned amid the turmoil, handing power to the transitional council, which has regional and US backing.

Despite the arrival of a Kenyan-led police support mission, violence has continued to increase.

US low-cost airline Spirit Airlines said on November 11 one of its flights was hit by gunfire when he was trying to land in Port-au-Prince and had to be diverted to the Dominican Republic.

A flight attendant suffered minor injuries and was being evaluated by medical staff, the airline said in a statement. No passengers were injured.

Port-au-Prince airport suspended all commercial flights, the Miami Herald reported, while American Airlines announced it would suspend service between Miami and the Haitian capital until Nov. 14.

A recent United Nations report said more than 1,200 people were killed in Haiti between July and September, with persistent kidnappings and sexual violence against women and girls.

gang violence

In response to the latest political instability, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all parties in Haiti to “work constructively” together to ensure the integrity of the transition process, his spokesman said on November 11.

“It is not up to the Secretary General to choose who will be the prime minister of Haiti,” said spokesman Stéphane Dujarric. “The important thing is that Haitian political leaders put Haiti’s interests first.”

In recent years, gangs have taken over about 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, as any semblance of governance evaporated.

The UN report said the gangs were digging trenches, using drones and stockpiling weapons as they changed tactics to confront the Kenyan-led police force.

Gang leaders have strengthened the defenses of the areas they control and have placed gas cylinders and Molotov cocktails ready to use against police operations.

According to the International Organization for Migration, more than 700,000 people (half of them children) have fled their homes due to gang violence. AFP