PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) — The former president of the Haitian senate, Edgard Leblanc Fils was on Tuesday named as the president of the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT) as efforts continue to restore peace and security in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country.

His appointment comes a day after members of the council held a high-level meeting at the Reception Villa (Primature), with the High Police Staff Nationale d’Haïti (PNH) led by Frantz Elbé and the Armed Forces of Haiti (FAd’H) led by Colonel Jodel Lesage.

The meeting was the first official contact of CPT members with the heads of these two public institutions responsible for security. It also provided an opportunity to analyse the security situation and, by mutual agreement, to identify possible solutions to the issue of insecurity and kidnappings which represent the main concern of the entire population.

The CPT also named former sports minister Fritz Belizaire as the country’s prime minister replacing Michel Patrick Boisvert, the former minister of economy and finance who was the current interim prime minister.

Belizaire is little known and even some members of the council were unfamiliar with him, but Fils welcomed the appointment saying “This is a very good choice for prime minister”.

The nine-member transitional council, seven of whom have voting rights, and Belizaire, who served as sports minister during the second presidency of René Préval from 2006 to 2011, is reported to have had the support of four of the council’s voting members.

Haiti has been steeped in political turmoil and social unrest following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021.

Rival gangs have over-run the poverty-stricken French-speaking country, plunging citizens into further despair and forcing several foreign agencies to remove non-essential staff from their offices in Haiti.

Following the installation of the CPT last Thursday, seven countries officially notified the UN Secretary-General of their intention to contribute personnel to the Security Council-backed support mission for the crisis-wracked Caribbean nation.

The UN said Kenya has offered to lead the multinational mission that aims to provide much-needed backup to the national police in a bid to regain control of the streets from gang rule.

The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica also pledged their support.