A week after the list of members of the presidential council was published in the official gazette, Le Moniteur, there has not been any word on when specifically, the members will be sworn in or installed to undertake the charge given to them. There was speculation that this will take place this coming Wednesday but as on today, Tuesday, there are no signs that anything is afoot to undertake the swearing in ceremony. One of the committee members Leslie Voltaire went to the premises of the National Palace to assess developments and came out that there seem to be no plans whatsoever, though some people want to ensure that this ceremony takes place as soon as possible. The security situation in the country has made it almost impossible for a smooth installation of officers to steer the nation through the rough waters to elections. During his trip to the National Palace, it was evident that there was gunfire exchanged in the vicinity of Champs de Mars which is just a stone throw away from the National Palace. The police were able to repel the gangs who have sworn to take over the National Palace. Though the initial plan was to hold the swearing in ceremony in front of some 400 guests, this number has been revised to between 80 to 100 guests in a ceremony that plans to be solemn but sober. There a few security measures to be considered for the occasion to ensure the safety of the guests. 

Despite the gunshots that broke the air during his visit to the National Palace, Leslie Voltaire reported to his colleagues on the committee. He was accompanied b former Colonel Himmler Rébu, who heads the Security Subcommittee for the installation of the Presidential Committee members, Henry Robert Jolibois former director of ISPAN, and Raymond Jeanty who was palace administrator under President René Préval. As of this writing, there has not been any official decision on the installation of the committee members but there are plans today to focus on that. Members of the committee have met at the Villa d’Accueil on Thursday, April 18, 2024, with the Acting Prime Minister Michel Patrick Boisvert and the Director General of the National Police, Frantz Elbé.

In other news, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Haiti, Maria Isabel Salvador, expressed her concerns regarding the security situation in the country. At a briefing to the UN Security Council yesterday, she said that it hurts her to see that some of the worst scenarios for the country have come true in recent months and weeks, stating that its impossible to exaggerate the increase in gang activity in Port-au-Prince and beyond, the deterioration of the human rights situation and the worsening of the humanitarian crisis. She noted that as of now, only 8.1% of the US$674 million in the Haiti Humanitarian Response Plan for 2024 has been funded. She urged all member States to continue funding this humanitarian response plan. Ms. Salvador recalled that in early March gangs launched coordinated attacks targeting key state infrastructure, including several police stations and two of Port-au-Prince’s main prisons, as well as educational and health facilities. and religious sites. They also launched several attacks against the presidential palace, which gave rise to violent clashes with the national police (PNH), causing numerous victims. She reiterated the need for the deployment of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSSM) to be led by Kenya. To her, the absence of international action to improve security in the country, through the deployment of the MSSM mandated by the Security Council, alongside a long-term political solution, the circumstances will remain extremely difficult.

Speaking of international peace keeping mission, a group of Kenyan pastors and staff of Kenyan President William Ruto’s wife Rachel Ruto participated in a Zoom meeting earlier this month with the leader of the coalition of gangs called Viv Ansanm,, Jimmy Chérizier, popularly known as Barbecue, according to Serge Musasilwa, a member of the delegation and national director of a religious ministry in central Kenya. This information was relayed by the site Christianity Today, a monthly magazine of evangelical Christian information and reflections, founded in 1956 by the American pastor Billy Graham.

The Kenyan religious delegation traveled to the US to meet with church and business leaders, American and Haitian officials, as well as representatives of law enforcement and the army to discuss the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti, to be led by Kenya. The group wanted to hear from people from all sectors of Haitian society, in order to better understand the challenges that the Kenyan police could face in the event of a possible deployment to Haiti. President William Ruto reportedly instructed the religious delegation to hold discussions, which could help inform Kenyan forces about the situation in Haiti, with the aim of increasing the chances of success of the Kenyan security mission in the event of possible deployment to Haiti. Part of the fact-finding trip was simply identifying what was working within the government in Haiti and trying to understand Haiti’s government structure. The group is expected to present its findings this month to the president, ahead of a presidential trip to the United States, planned for May 2024. This would be the first state visit by an African president to the American presidency (the American White House) in 16 years (since 2008). According to President William Ruto, the plan to deploy the security mission in Haiti is moving forward, despite funding delays, emphasizing how his country has a moral obligation to help Haiti.

Finally, the gang situation has gotten to the point that access to the Varreux oil terminal and the Caribbean Port Services (CPS) port terminal has been blocked since March 5, 2024. According to sources, access roads are blocked, the “Gonaïves station, Chancerelles, and La Saline are isolated. The terminal cannot deliver, the truckers cannot come in. The gangs took control of 10 trucks that already left the terminal to use them as a roadblock. Other sources defied this news to insist that the bandits were unable to enter the terminal this morning. There is security control of the Varreux terminal, Wineco oil storage, TGV propane storage, TVB bulk and container port as well as all the infrastructure and installations of Varreux and fortunately, the employees and administrators of the Varreux terminal were safely evacuated from the workplace.