PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti’s newly elected Prime Minister Garry Conille was hospitalized Saturday night in the capital, Port-au-Prince, just days after arriving in the country, an official told The Associated Press.
It was not immediately known why Conille was hospitalized.
Louis Gérald Gilles, a member of the presidential transition council that recently elected Conille as leader of the troubled Caribbean country, said he was on his way to the hospital and had no further information.
A spokesman for Conille did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
AP journalists observed high-ranking officials entering the hospital, including Frantz Elbé, director of the Haitian National Police. Bruno Maes, UNICEF representative in Haiti, was also present. Both declined to comment.
A handful of curious onlookers gathered outside the hospital as authorities blocked the street with vans with tinted windows.
Conille was elected prime minister on May 28 after a complicated selection process. He faces an uphill task as Haiti’s new leader, including quelling widespread gang violence as the country prepares for the deployment of a U.N.-backed Kenyan police force, a move that was delayed in part because Haiti lacked of a prime minister after former prime minister Ariel Henry resigned. down April 25.
Henry was on an official visit to Kenya when gangs launched coordinated attacks on February 29, burning police stations, shooting up the country’s main international airport and storming Haiti’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates. The violence left Henry excluded from the country and eventually led to his resignation.
Conille arrived in Haiti on June 1, having worked outside the country until recently as UNICEF regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, a role he assumed in January 2023. He previously served as Prime Minister of Haiti from October 2011 to May 2012 under then-President. Michel Martelly.
Conille has been meeting with various officials and visiting various parts of Port-au-Prince since his arrival, even boarding an armored vehicle with a helmet and bulletproof vest to accompany a patrol with Haitian National Police officers.
Earlier on Saturday, Conille toured Haiti’s main international airport, which recently reopened after gang violence forced it to close for nearly three months. On Friday he met with leaders of the private business sector as well as the country’s two telecommunications companies.
Conille had also met regularly with the transitional council as they debated who should be appointed to Haiti’s new cabinet.
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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press video journalist Pierre-Richard Luxama contributed to this report.
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