Feb 7 (Reuters) - Haiti entered political limbo on Saturday as the mandate of the Caribbean nation's transitional governing council, a body intended to curb a bloody gang conflict and bring about long-delayed elections, ended with no succession plan in place.
The nine-member Transitional Presidential Council (CPT, by its French initials) was installed in April 2024 after Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned. It has been led by a rotating roster of council presidents.
However, its term has been marked by a deterioration in security, corruption accusations and political infighting.
In late January, several members of the CPT said they were seeking to oust Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, even as the U.S. threatened serious consequences should they do so and backed Fils-Aime staying on after February 7.
The U.S. also said the CPT must leave power and has imposed sanctions on five council members.
"As the Transitional Presidential Council's mandate ends on February 7, we support Prime Minister Fils-Aime's leadership in building a strong, prosperous and free Haiti," the U.S. embassy in Haiti said on Wednesday.
A day earlier, three U.S. warships arrived in the Bay of Port-au-Prince. The embassy said their presence "reflects the United States unwavering commitment to Haiti's security, stability, and brighter future."
Although there is broad agreement between Haiti's civil and political leaders that the CPT should step down, a consensus has yet to emerge over what structure should replace it.
Speaking to the Miami Herald on Wednesday, former lawmaker Antoine Rodon Bien-Aime, who has been involved in discussions, said there had been many proposals but an agreed solution has yet to emerge.
The Caribbean's most populous nation has been without an elected president since the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moise, and its last senators' terms expired over three years ago.
It last held elections in 2016. The spread of armed groups over the capital Port-au-Prince, the Artibonite farmlands and central parts of the country have further complicated the logistics of organizing a free and fair vote.
Around 1.4 million people were internally displaced across Haiti by October, according to U.N. data, a million more than when the CPT began their mandate.
The U.N. also approved an international security force intended to help police restore security, but more than two years later less than 1,000 troops - mostly Kenyan police - were deployed. The U.N. says it aims to have 5,500 by this summer.
(Reporting by Sarah Morland and Harold Isaac, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
