BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD)– Jan. 17 was the last day of the 2022 Haiti Unity Summit at the Southern University Law Center. They made a significant amount of groundwork in hopes of securing the future of the country.
Haitian faction leaders put aside their differences, came together and left on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a plan that could forever change the trajectory of Haiti.
Just like Dr. King Jr., they too had dream for unity. They worked for four days straight to lay the political foundation for Haiti.
“They want a Haiti that’s free, a Haiti that is secure and a Haiti that has an economic and education basis to use the talents of the people of Haiti, so they’re not having to migrate to live,” said facilitator Lt. General Russel Honoré.
They went from nine groups to one in a matter of days.
“Before dark fell, we had one accord,” stated Honoré.
That accord was called Accord Unitarie de la Louisiane, also known as the the Louisiana Unitary agreement.
“When we put them in the room, they were almost the same. So it was easy to merge them or what was important was transitional government election and security,” Honoré explained.
The interim President and Prime Minister are were finalized. The Accord nominated Fritz Jean as the next interim President of Haiti and Mariam Fetiore for interim Prime Minister.
They made a goal to establish this new government by February 7th.
“But they need to go back and collaborate with the other political groups, get solidarity, get support from the international community and get their country to a free and fair election,” said Honoré.
The group voted to stay close to the current constitution and are hoping to get the last two political parties still in Haiti on board.
“We’re encouraging this group to collaborate with the two groups in Haiti that did not come here to collaborate because they all have the same objective,” Honoré said.
Although much work is still to be done, leaders said this is a big step in the right direction.