New Haiti PM sworn in as airliner hit by gunfire

Newly sworn-in Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime speaks during the installation ceremony in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on November 11, 2024. Agence France-Presse

PORT-AU-PRINCE — Businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aime was sworn in as Haiti’s new prime minister on Monday as a gun attack on a passenger jet at the capital’s airport underscored the utter breakdown in law and order in the Caribbean country.

Fils-Aime replaced outgoing premier Garry Conille, who was appointed in May but became embroiled in a power struggle with the unelected transitional council tasked with stabilizing the crisis-wracked nation.

“We have a transition with lots of work to do: the first essential job, which is a condition for success, is restoring security,” Fils-Aime said in his first remarks.

READ: Haiti governing council moves to replace PM in power struggle

He said he was aware of Haiti’s “difficult circumstances” but promised to put “all of my energy, my skills and my patriotism at the service of the national cause.”

The challenges awaiting him are daunting, as evidenced by the drama in the skies over the capital city.

Low-cost American carrier Spirit Airlines said that a flight from Florida was hit by gunfire while trying to land at Port-au-Prince on Monday and had to be diverted to the neighboring Dominican Republic.

One flight attendant suffered minor injuries and was being evaluated by medical staff, the airline said in a statement, while images posted online appeared to show several bullet holes inside the cabin.

No passengers were hurt.

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The airport in Port-au-Prince has grounded all commercial flights, the Miami Herald reported, while American Airlines announced it was suspending its service between Miami and the Haitian capital until Thursday.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade group representing airlines, said it “strongly condemns recent attacks on civil aviation in Haiti, underscoring the urgent need for robust security measures to protect air operations.”

It stressed how the disorder threatened “the movement of goods and humanitarian aid critical for the Haitian people.”

Political turmoil

After being named just five months ago, outgoing premier Conille was ousted by the nine-member transitional council on Sunday.

He has questioned the authority of the council to sack him, and the row threatens to create more instability in Haiti which has been without a president since the assassination of leader Jovenel Moise in 2021.

There is no sitting parliament either, and the last elections were held in 2016.

The Caribbean nation has long struggled with political instability, poverty, natural disasters and gang violence.

But conditions sharply worsened at the end of February when armed groups launched coordinated attacks in the capital, saying they wanted to overthrow then-prime minister Ariel Henry.

Unelected and unpopular, Henry stepped down amid the turmoil, handing power to the transitional council, which has US and regional backing.

Despite the arrival of a Kenyan-led police support mission, violence has continued to soar.

A recent United Nations report said more than 1,200 people were killed in Haiti from July through September, with persistent kidnappings and sexual violence against women and girls.

Gang violence

Responding to the latest political instability, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged all sides in Haiti to “work constructively” together to ensure the integrity of the transition process, his spokesman said Monday.

“It’s not for the Secretary General to choose who will be the prime minister of Haiti,” said spokesman Stephane Dujarric. “What is important is that Haitian political leaders put the interests of Haiti first and foremost.”

Gangs in recent years have taken over about 80 percent of the capital Port-au-Prince as any semblance of government evaporated.

The UN report said the gangs were digging trenches, using drones and stockpiling weapons as they change tactics to confront the Kenyan-led police force.

Gang leaders have strengthened defenses for the zones they control and placed gas cylinders and Molotov cocktail bombs ready to use against police operations.

More than 700,000 people — half of them children — have fled their homes because of the gang violence, according to the International Organization for Migration.