dpa
Havana
A transitional presidential council has been created, to find a way out of the state and security crisis in Haiti.
A decree to this effect was published in the official gazette of the Caribbean state on Friday. The council is to appoint a new interim government and pave the way for the first elections in Haiti since 2016. This had been announced a month earlier following a meeting of the Caribbean Community CARICOM in Jamaica, which was also attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who did not return from a trip abroad at the end of February due to the security situation in Haiti, announced that he would resign when the council was in place.
The council is to be made up of nine representatives from various parties, civil society groups and the private sector - seven of whom are entitled to vote. Violence by armed gangs, which according to UN figures already controlled around 80 percent of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, escalated once again at the end of February. Police stations, government facilities and other buildings were attacked and thousands of prisoners were freed.
According to a report by the UN Human Rights Office by the end of March, more than 1,500 people had been killed.
