Haiti's interim PM confirms request for deployment of US troops in country

Haiti's interim government has asked the U.S. to deploy troops to protect key infrastructure as it tries to stabilise the country and prepare the way for elections in the aftermath of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

We definitely need assistance and we've asked our international partners for help, Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph told The Associated Press in an interview, declining to provide further details. We believe our partners can assist the national police in resolving the situation.

Joseph said that he was dismayed by opponents who've tried to take advantage of Mose's murder to seize political power an indirect reference to a group of lawmakers have declared their loyalty and recognized Joseph Lambert, the head of Haiti's dismantled senate, as provisional president and Ariel Henry, whom Mose designated as prime minister a day before he was killed, as prime minister.

"I'm not interested in a power struggle, Joseph said in the brief phone interview, without mentioning Lambert by name. There's only one way people can become president in Haiti. And that's through elections. So I'm asking everyone to work together so the country can have an elected president.