Diplomats Urge New Leadership in Slight to Haiti’s Interim Chief

(Bloomberg) -- Diplomats around the world are urging the designated prime minister of Haiti to form a new government, a rebuff of the current interim prime minister who stepped in after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

Claude Joseph has been running the country as the interim prime minister with the support of the military even after Moïse named Ariel Henry as his replacement one day before he was murdered.

Joseph and his supporters say that Henry was never sworn in before Moise was killed by gunmen in his private home on July 7, allegedly invalidating the claim. Meanwhile, Colombia’s Semana magazine has reported that two of the three Colombians who went into Moise’s bedroom are dead and one is still on the run.

According to a statement on Saturday from the ambassadors from the U.S., Canada, Brazil, France, Spain, Germany and the European Union, as well as United Nations and the Organization of American States representatives, the group “strongly encourages” Henry to form a consensual and inclusive government as the designated prime minister to “continue the mission entrusted to him.”

The so-called “Core Group” of international diplomats called for Haitians to support the authorities in their efforts to restore security throughout the country, including in areas currently plagued by gang violence, and to hold credible and transparent elections as soon as possible.

Read More: Haitian Fugitive Ordered Colombians to Kill Moise, Police Say

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.