Haitian Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph Agrees to Step Down

Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph has agreed to step down and hand power to a political challenger in a bid to stabilize the embattled Caribbean nation following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

Haiti’s Elections Minister Mathias Pierre said on Monday that Mr. Joseph’s resignation forms part of a broad political agreement aimed at providing stability and the scheduling of presidential elections in about four months.

Mr. Joseph will yield power to Ariel Henry,  a neurosurgeon who was appointed Haiti’s prime minister a day before Mr. Moïse’s killing. As part of the agreement, Mr. Joseph will become foreign minister in Mr. Henry’s cabinet. Other appointments are still under negotiation.

After the assassination, Mr. Joseph had claimed to be the head of the government as Mr. Henry had yet to be sworn into office. But on Friday, foreign ambassadors to Haiti from the U.S., Canada and several European nations threw their support behind Mr. Henry, urging him to reach a consensus and form a new government.

While a government of national unity will likely be prone to internal tensions, experts and diplomats said it was a necessary condition to avoid a power struggle between different political factions that would embolden powerful criminal gangs and put Haiti on the brink of anarchy.