Haiti’s new Prime Minister called for unity to prevent the country’s drift after Moise’s assassination

Haiti’s new prime minister, Ariel Henry, calls for national unity to avoid the “abyss”, hours before announcing the composition of his new government.

Henry, 71, was the 7th Prime Minister appointed by President Jovenel Moise, assassinated by an armed commando on July 7.

The ceremony The inauguration of his cabinet is scheduled for Tuesday at three in the afternoon. (19H00 GMT) in Port-au-Prince, whose composition was published in the Official Journal of the Republic of Haiti.

The new government is made up of 18 ministers, including five women. In addition to the post of Prime Minister, Henry will assume that of Minister of Social Affairs and Labor.

Claude Joseph, Acting Prime Minister at the time of the President’s assassination and who subsequently showed signs of willingness to stay in power, will keep the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship.

The showdown between Joseph and Henry for executive leadership finally ended over the weekend after joint pressure from ambassadors from various countries, including France and the United States, as well as emissaries from the OAS and the UN.

So, finally, Joseph announced Monday his resignation as head of government in favor of Henry, who had been appointed prime minister by Moise just before his death..

Henry, a former surgeon who has served as minister several times, has pledged to work for “consensus” in the Caribbean country, ravaged by poverty, insecurity and corruption.

In a speech broadcast on television Monday night, Henry said he wanted to “make a solemn appeal to national unity, to the union of our forces and to the cooperation of all, to stop this race of the country towards the abyss, to go up the slope and to protect our country from the many dangers. . that threaten him. threaten ”.

According to the new prime minister, The “very existence of the nation” of Haiti is currently “in peril”.

As soon as to the assassination of Moise, whose The state funeral will be on Friday, Henry promised “that the culprits and their sponsors will answer for their acts before the Haitian justice”.

Ehe Haitian government paid tribute to Moise during the opening ceremony of the official memorial service for the assassination, which took place on July 7.

The memorial took place in a Open-air esplanade in the premises of the National Pantheon, a place dedicated to the fathers of the Haitian homeland.

The space was chaired by a superb photo of Moise, whose image was surrounded by Haitian flags, bouquets of white flowers and a condolence book in which the participants signed on their arrival.

In the ceremony they were interspersed music, a dance performance, the words of a priest and official speeches, the principal of which fell on Claude Joseph, since the commemorative act was celebrated before the inauguration of the new government.

In his speech, Joseph assured that Moses was united in a relationship of “friendship”, to the point that he sometimes showed up to the president without warning, but not for work, but for personal reasons.

(With information from AFP)

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