Haiti’s prime minister, Ariel Henry, has formally resigned and a new provisional government has been sworn in during a secret ceremony at the presidential palace, nearly two months after a criminal insurrection plunged the capital into chaos, Ednews reports via The Guardian.

The nine-person “transitional council” was officially established on Thursday during an event at the national palace in Port-au-Prince. As its members took their oaths, Henry, who is in the US having been locked out of Haiti by the gang uprising, announced in a letter that he was stepping down.

“We have served the nation during difficult times,” wrote Henry, a neurosurgeon turned politician who came to power after the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021. Henry had announced last month that he was quitting.

Thursday’s early morning ceremony was cloaked in secrecy and was not publicly announced because of the threat of violence. On the eve of the event, reports suggested it would take place in another government property, a mansion on the outskirts of town.

In recent days there have been shootouts between police and armed criminals in the downtown area around the palace. A prominent gang spokesperson, Jimmy Chérizier, this week warned Haiti’s incoming caretaker leaders to “brace yourselves”.