Gang leader says Haiti will “face genocide” if prime minister does not resign.

(CNN) — Gang leader Jimmy Charizier, also known as “Barbeque”, issued a stern warning on Tuesday, saying that if Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry remained in power, “the country will face genocide.”

“If Ariel Henry does not resign, if the international community continues to support Ariel Henry, they will take us straight into a civil war that will end in genocide,” Charizier told Reuters in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. ” “The international community, particularly the United States, Canada, France, and the Core Group, will be held accountable for all those who died in Haiti.”

Gang leader Jimmy “Barbeque” Charizier and his men in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 5, 2024. (Credit: Clarence Sifroy/AFP via Getty Images)

Charizier, a former police officer, said the gangs are fighting to remove Henry “as quickly as possible”.

“Then, we will begin to fight against the existing system, to have the country we want, a country where there are jobs for all, a Haiti where there is security, a Haiti where there is free education, a Haiti Where there is no social discrimination, where everyone can achieve what they want,” he said.