Haiti’s new unelected prime minister, Garry Conille, is now in stable condition after being hospitalized for an ‘unspecified illness’ on Saturday afternoon.

Conille was rushed to hospital after suffering breathing problems.

Reuters reported:

“‘Following a week of intense activities, the Prime Minister had a slight illness on the afternoon of Saturday June 8, 2024 and went to the hospital for treatment’, his office said in a statement. ‘His situation is stable for the moment’.

Reuters images showed several ambulances and police officers outside a hospital in a suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince where Conille was reportedly undergoing treatment.”

Conille briefly led the country over a decade ago and was most recently a former regional director at UNICEF, the United Nations children’s agency.

“He was named interim prime minister on May 29 by a transition council with the mandate to restore stability and take back control from violent gangs.”

The equally unelected transition council is expected to hold elections before Feb. 7, 2026.

The last elected leader in Haiti, President Jovenel Moise, was assassinated in 2021.

In a YouTube video, Conille said that he felt well.

He said that his government will, besides the security, also prioritize issues like health care.

CBS News reported:

“In his video, Conille said: ‘The whole time I was at the hospital, I was thinking of something: People that need to go to the general hospital can’t get there (due to widespread violence). People who need health care can’t afford it’.”

Conille was outside the country, serving as UNICEF’s regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean.

He arrived in Haiti on June 1, after a transitional council selected him as the new PM.

“The new prime minister has an arduous task ahead of him, having to quell rampant gang violence while helping lift Haiti out of deep poverty, with inflation reaching a record 29%, according to the latest data available.”

The rebel gangs control at least 80% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and have forced more than 360,000 people from their homes.

“The Haitian government is now awaiting the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from Kenya and other countries.”

Conille was in good spirits in the video released yesterday (9).

“‘I hope that by early next week we can have a government in place’, he said. ‘I am doing everything we can so we can get out of this crisis’.”

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