The UN and America are mounting a new effort to drag the country out of the abyss
Haiti is gripped by a nervous countdown. The country is approaching the end of a botched political-transition process. What was supposed to put Haiti on a path back to security after a coalition of gangs seized control of Port-au-Prince, the capital, in 2024, has plunged it further into lawlessness. As The Economist went to press, it was unclear who would run Haiti after February 7th, when the transitional arrangement ends.
The nine-member Presidential Transition Council that has officially been running Haiti over this period was supposed to steer the country to new elections to replace President Jovenel Moïse, who was assassinated in his bedroom in 2021. Instead, the council has bickered over which of them should take over. Some of its members have been accused of extorting bribes. Meanwhile thousands of Haitians have been killed as gangs kidnapped, raped and pillaged almost at will. More than 1.4m people have been displaced. Levels of hunger are about as high as those in civil-war-torn Sudan.
