Embattled Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry formally resigned, officials said Thursday, opening the way for a new caretaker government that would welcome a foreign, U.S.-backed security force to combat the gangs that have laid siege against the state. 

The resignation came as a new nine-member transitional council was inaugurated Thursday morning in the National Palace in Port-au-Prince. The council is made up of seven voting members and two observers representative of Haitian political parties and civil-society groups.

Michel Boisvert, a former Haitian economy and finance minister who had been Henry’s deputy, was named as acting prime minister, according to the government’s official gazette. The transitional council now has the challenge of trying to restore security in the Caribbean nation and organize presidential elections.  

Henry, who struggled to tame rampant gang violence during his nearly three years in power, issued a one-page resignation letter dated Wednesday from Los Angeles. He had been unable to return to Haiti because of violence that shut down the country’s airport and led him on March 11 to announce that he would leave office.