Haiti president appoints Claude Joseph as new premier

ANKARA

Haiti's president on Wednesday appointed Claude Joseph, minister of foreign affairs and worship, as the new prime minister following the resignation of Joseph Jouthe.

"The resignation of the government, which I accepted, will make it possible to address the glaring problem of insecurity and continue discussions with a view to reaching the consensus necessary for the political and institutional stability of our country," Jovenel Moise said in a tweet declaring the new appointment.

The announcement came hours after Jouthe handed in his resignation to the president.

"It has been an honor to serve my country as Prime Minister," Jouthe said on Twitter, thanking the members of his government as well as technical and financial partners for their collaboration. He gave no further information about the reason behind his move.

Jouthe assumed the post in early March last year.

Haiti has been hit hard by an economic crisis exacerbated by the coronavirus outbreak as the country is one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere.

The tiny Caribbean island of nearly 12M people has so far registered close to 13,000 coronavirus infection cases and 251 related deaths.