SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, May 29, (AP): Garry Conille, Haiti’s new prime minister, said Wednesday that he was "very honored” to be chosen for the post, in his first statement since a transitional council selected him to lead the troubled Caribbean country under siege by gangs.
Conille thanked the civil society groups, political parties and members of the Haitian diaspora who proposed him as a candidate.
"Together, we will work for a better tomorrow for all the children of our nation,” he wrote on X, the social media platform, in Haitian Creole.
Conille submitted his resignation Tuesday as UNICEF’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, a post he has held since January 2023. He previously served as prime minister of Haiti from October 2011 to May 2012 under then-President Michel Martelly.
Conille studied medicine and public health and helped develop health care in impoverished communities in Haiti, where he helped coordinate reconstruction efforts after the devastating 2010 earthquake. He also served as a UN development specialist before becoming a regional director with UNICEF.
He now faces a monumental task, with Haiti under siege by gangs that control at least 80% of the Port-au-Prince capital as the country awaits the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from Kenya and other countries supporting the mission.
While the transitional council has not issued a formal statement about Conille, council members told The Associated Press late Tuesday that six of seven members with voting powers had selected him. Laurent St. Cyr, the seventh member, is not in Haiti currently and as a result did not vote.