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Reuters
Reuters
Politics
Andre Paultre

Martine Moise, widow of assassinated president, returns to Haiti

Haiti's first lady Martine Moise (L), the wife of assassinated President Jovenel Moise, is greeted by Haiti's interim Prime Minister Claude Jospeh, after arriving from the U.S, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in this undated photograph obtained by Reuters on July 17, 2021. Prime Minister's Office/Handout via REUTERS

Martine Moise, the widow of Haiti's assassinated president Jovenel Moise, returned to the Caribbean nation on Saturday for his funeral after she was treated in a Miami hospital for injuries sustained during the July 7 attack at their private residence.

Jovenel Moise was shot dead when assassins armed with assault rifles stormed his home in the hills above Port-au-Prince, tipping the country into uncertainty and sparking a frenzied investigation to identify the authors of the plan.

FILE PHOTO: A picture of the late Haitian President Jovenel Moise hangs on a wall before a news conference by interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph at his house, almost a week after his assassination, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo

The Prime Minister's office tweeted a video of Martine Moise arriving back at the Haitian capital's Toussaint Louverture international airport on Saturday, wearing all black clothing, donning a bullet proof vest and with her right arm in a sling. She was greeted by Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph.

"The Prime Minister, Dr. Claude Joseph, welcomes the First Lady, Martine Moise, who arrives in Haiti for the funeral of her husband," the Prime Minister's office said.

Martine Moise had tweeted earlier this week while in Miami that she was still coming to terms with the killing of her husband and had thanked a "team of guardian angels who helped me through this terrible time."

Haiti's first lady Martine Moise (L), the wife of assassinated President Jovenel Moise, is greeted by Haiti's interim Prime Minister Claude Jospeh, after arriving from the U.S, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in this undated photograph obtained by Reuters on July 17, 2021. Prime Minister's Office/Handout via REUTERS

Earlier on Saturday, the important Core Group of international ambassadors and representatives had urged "the formation of a consensual and inclusive government".

"To this end, we strongly encourage the designated Prime Minister Ariel Henry to continue the mission entrusted to him to form such a government," the group said. Henry, who Moise designated Prime Minister shortly before being killed, has not been sworn into his position and the country is being led by Joseph.

The Core Group is made up of ambassadors from Germany, Brazil, Canada, Spain, the United States, France, the European Union and special representatives from the United Nations and the Organization of American States.

Haiti's interim Prime Minister Claude Jospeh walks with the Haiti's first lady Martine Moise, the wife of assassinated President Jovenel Moise, after she arrives from the U.S, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in this undated photograph obtained by Reuters on July 17, 2021. Prime Minister's Office/Handout via REUTERS

"As Haiti faces serious dangers, the members of the group express the wish that all political, economic and civil society actors in the country fully support the authorities in their efforts to restore security throughout the country," it said.

The group also called for the organization of "free, fair, transparent and credible legislative and presidential elections as quickly as possible".

Senior opposition Senator Patrice Dumont, one of only 10 sitting lawmakers in the normally 30-seat Senate said on Thursday that fair elections cannot be held for at least a year due to the influence of violent gangs and a compromised electoral council.

FILE PHOTO: FBI agents assisting in the investigation of the assassination of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise inspect his residence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 15, 2021. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo

On Friday a Colombian police chief said the assassination may have ordered by a former Haitian justice ministry official, citing a preliminary investigation that has implicated Haitian-Americans and former Colombian soldiers.

(Additional reporting by Adam Jourdan in Buenos Aires and Anthony Esposito in Mexico City; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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