PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti’s new Prime Minister, Garry Conille, was released from hospital Sunday after being treated overnight for an undisclosed illness.
In a video posted on YouTube, Conir said he was in good health and “ready” to continue helping lead the country out of the current security crisis by forming a government that would prioritize issues such as health care.
“The whole time I was in the hospital, I was thinking about one thing: People who need to go to general hospitals can’t get there (because of the violence). People who need medical care can’t afford it,” Coniel said in the video.
He was admitted to a hospital in the capital, Port-au-Prince, late Saturday, the government said. It was unclear why he needed medical attention.
The prime minister’s office said in a statement on Saturday that Conille was feeling a bit unwell “after a week of intense activity”, but gave no further details other than to say his condition was stable and that he thanked those who came to visit him and wished them good health.
Associated Press reporters saw senior officials, including Haiti’s national police chief, Franz Herbe, entering the hospital, along with UNICEF Haiti representative Bruno Maas.
A few curious onlookers gathered outside the hospital as authorities blocked off the street with SUVs equipped with tinted windows.
Conir was elected prime minister on May 28 after a complicated selection process. As Haiti’s new leader, he faces a difficult task, including quelling widespread gang violence as the country prepares for the arrival of a UN-backed Kenyan police force. The delay comes in part because Haiti has been without a prime minister since Ariel Henry resigned on April 25.
On February 29, while President Henry was on an official visit to Kenya, gangs launched coordinated attacks, burning down a police station, opening fire at the country’s main international airport, and storming Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates. This violence led to President Henry being banned from leaving the country and ultimately to his resignation.
Conille arrived in Haiti on June 1 after most recently serving overseas as UNICEF’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, a position he will assume in January 2023. He served as Haiti’s prime minister from October 2011 to May 2012 under then-President Michel Martelly.
“We are doing everything we can to get out of this crisis,” Conille said in a video on Sunday about crime in the country.
Since his arrival, Conille has met with officials and visited various locations in Port-au-Prince, including donning a helmet and bulletproof vest and riding in an armored vehicle to patrol with officers from the Haitian National Police.
Early Saturday, Conille toured Haiti’s main international airport, which recently reopened after being closed for nearly three months due to gang violence, and on Friday he met with leaders of the private sector and the country’s two telecommunications companies.
Conilles also met regularly with the transitional council to discuss who should be appointed to Haiti’s new cabinet.
