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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday the proposed transitional council in Haiti, meant to provide a political transition and bring stability to the troubled Caribbean nation, is still not set but he expressed confidence it will happen in the coming days.
Speaking at a news conference in Austria, Blinken said most Haitian social and political stakeholders have named their representatives to the seven-member council but said "a couple" have not. He expressed confidence they soon would.
Blinken took part early this week in an emergency meeting on Haiti in Jamaica, led by the regional trade group CARICOM. It was during that meeting that the Transitional Presidential Council, consisting of seven voting members and two non-voting observers, was agreed to.
Under the agreement, Blinken said, the council would appoint an interim prime minister. The council would with the interim leader appoint an inclusive council of ministers, including a national security council and an election commission that would oversee new elections.
"This was a Haitian-led agreement," Blinken said. He said related, but separate, is the issue of security and that humanitarian aid, economic development and setting up elections would be impossible if there is profound insecurity in Haiti.
Blinken said the international community has been working for months on the multinational security force, led by Kenya and other African and Caribbean nations in support of the Haitian police. He said it is moving forward but will not be in place until the transitional council is set up.
The secretary of state said he expected that to happen in the coming days, but he said in Haiti, "every single day, there are challenges to that process - political challenges, security challenges - and we are working to address them."
Blinken's comments came a day after Albert Ramdin, Suriname's foreign minister and an official within CARICOM, told The Associated Press the creation of the transitional council was moving forward and said a majority of stakeholders have named their representatives.
"It is all up now to the Haitians as they are the ones who want a Haitian-led solution," Ramdin said. "It is for them to pick up the ball and run with it, being responsible for their own destiny."
On Monday, under pressure from the United States and other regional nations, unpopular and unelected Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced that he would step down once the transitional council was in place. The White House confirmed Thursday that Henry is in Puerto Rico.
Blinken's comments also came a day after a powerful gang leader in Haiti threatened political leaders who are set to take part in a planned transitional council in governing the nation.
In a seven-minute audio message that was shared widely on the WhatsApp platform Thursday, gang alliance leader Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier threatened the politicians who are to take part in the transitional council.
"Don't you have any shame?" Cherizier said, directing his remarks at politicians who he said were looking to join the council. "You have taken the country where it is today. You have no idea what will happen," he added.
"I'll know if your kids are in Haiti, if your wives are in Haiti ... if your husbands are in Haiti," he said in an apparent threat to their families. "If you're going to run the country, all your family ought to be there.
"We are going to continue the fight for Haiti's liberation," Cherizier, a former policeman, told the Spanish-language network W Radio.
On Thursday, the United Nations said it was working to establish an aid airlift to Haiti.
"It's bringing in some supplies. It's also taking some U.N. staff out and bringing other U.N. staff in," the secretary-general's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
In Washington, the U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to confirm career diplomat Dennis Hankins as ambassador to Haiti. The confirmation marks the first time the diplomatic post will be filled in the country in almost 2½ years.
The U.S. said its embassy remains open and limited operations continue, focused on assisting Americans in Haiti and "supporting Haitian-led efforts to secure a peaceful transition of power."
Other embassies, including Canada's, have similarly reduced embassy staff in the country over safety concerns.
The United Kingdom, meanwhile, said it will increase security in the nearby Turks and Caicos Islands, which are a British Overseas Territory.
VOA's Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some information in this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.