A Soyuz capsule carrying 3 crew from the International Space Station lands safely in Kazakhstan

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian space capsule with two women and one man safely landed in a steppe in Kazakhstan on Saturday after their missions aboard the International Space Station.

The Soyuz MS-24 carrying Russia’s Oleg Novitsky, NASA's Loral O'Hara and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus touched down southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan at 12:17 p.m. Kazakh time (0717 GMT).

Those remaining at the orbiting outpost are NASA astronauts Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Tracy Dyson and Jeannette Epps as well as Russian cosmonauts Nikolai Chub, Alexander Grebenkin and Oleg Kononenko.

O’Hara arrived at the International Space Station on Sept. 15, 2023, spending a total of 204 days there, NASA said.

Novitsky and Vasilevskaya blasted off to space on March 23, two days later than initially planned. The launch of a Soyuz spacecraft carrying them and Dyson, scheduled for March 21, was aborted at the very last minute due to a voltage drop in a power source, according to Yury Borisov, head of Russia's space agency Roscosmos.

The delay resulted in a two-day, 34-orbit trip to the space station for the crew. If the launch had gone as scheduled, the journey would have been much shorter, requiring only two orbits.

The space station, which has served as a symbol of post-Cold War international cooperation, is now one of the last remaining areas of collaboration between Russia and the West amid tensions over Moscow’s military action in Ukraine. NASA and its partners hope to continue operating the orbiting outpost until 2030.

Russia has continued to rely on modified versions of Soviet-designed rockets for commercial satellites, as well as crews and cargo to the space station.

The Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft is seen as it lands in a remote area near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan with NASA's astronaut Loral O'Hara, Russia’s Oleg Novitsky and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya, Saturday, April 6, 2024. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)

NASA's Loral O'Hara, left, Russia’s Oleg Novitsky and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya, right, are seen inside the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft after they landed in a remote area near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 6, 2024. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)

In this grab taken from video released by the Roscosmos Space Corporation, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky sits in a chair shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-24 space capsule near Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 6, 2024. The Soyuz capsule carrying NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus touched down on Saturday. (Roscosmos Space Corporation via AP)

In this grab taken from video released by the Roscosmos Space Corporation NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara sits in a chair shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-24 space capsule near Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 6, 2024. The Soyuz capsule carrying NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus touched down on Saturday. (Roscosmos Space Corporation via AP)

In this grab taken from video released by the Roscosmos Space Corporation, NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara sits in a chair shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-24 space capsule near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 6, 2024. The Soyuz capsule carrying NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus touched down on Saturday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)

In this grab taken from video released by the Roscosmos Space Corporation Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus sits in a chair and holds a Matryoshka, Russian traditional wooden dolls depicting her shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-24 space capsule, near Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 6, 2024. The Soyuz capsule carrying NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus touched down on Saturday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)

In this grab taken from video released by the Roscosmos Space Corporation Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus sits in a chair shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-24 space capsule near Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 6, 2024. The Soyuz capsule carrying NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus touched down on Saturday. (Roscosmos Space Corporation via AP)

In this grab taken from video released by the Roscosmos Space Corporation, NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara sits in a chair shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-24 space capsule near Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Saturday, April 6, 2024. The Soyuz capsule carrying NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, Oleg Novitsky of Roscosmos and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus touched down on Saturday. (Roscosmos Space Corporation via AP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A surprise announcement that revealed Haiti’s new prime minister is threatening to fracture a recently installed transitional council tasked with choosing new leaders for the gang-riddled Caribbean country.

Four of seven council members with voting powers said Tuesday that they had chosen Fritz Bélizaire as prime minister, taking many Haitians aback with their declaration and unexpected political alliance.

The council members who oppose Bélizaire, who served as Haiti’s sports minister during the second presidency of René Préval from 2006 to 2011, are now weighing options including fighting the decision or resigning from the council.

A person with direct knowledge of the situation who did not want to be identified because negotiations are ongoing said the council’s political accord had been violated by the unexpected move and that some council members are considering other choices as potential prime minister.

The council on Tuesday was scheduled to hold an election and choose its president. But two hours and a profuse apology later, one council member said that not only a council president had been chosen, but a prime minister as well. Murmurs rippled through the room.

The Montana Accord, a civil society group represented by a council member with voting powers, denounced in a statement late Tuesday what it called a “complot” hatched by four council members against the Haitian people “in the middle of the night.”

“The political and economic mafia forces have decided to take control of the presidential council and the government so that they can continue to control the state,” the Montana Accord said.

Haitian politics have long been characterized by secretive dealings, but many worry the country cannot afford further political instability as gangs lay siege to the capital of Port-au-Prince and beyond.

“People change parties (like) they’re changing their shirts,” said François Pierre-Louis, a professor of political science at Queens College in New York and former Haitian politician.

He spoke during an online webinar on Tuesday evening.

Like others, he said he believed that Jean-Charles Moïse, a powerful politician who was a former senator and presidential candidate, was behind Bélizaire’s nomination.

“Interestingly, Moïse, of all the politicians there, is the one calling the shots,” Pierre-Louis said.

Moïse, however, does not sit on the council. His party, Pitit Desalin, is represented by Emmanuel Vertilaire, who is among the four council members who support Bélizaire.

The others are Louis Gérald Gilles, Smith Augustin and Edgard Leblanc Fils, the council’s new president.

They could not be immediately reached for comment.

A document shared with The Associated Press and signed by the four council members who chose the new prime minister state they have agreed to make decisions by consensus. The document is titled, “Constitution of an Indissoluble Majority Bloc within the Presidential Council.”

The move prompted the Fanmi Lavalas party to issue a statement Wednesday calling it a “masquerade” and “conspiracy” to guarantee that PHTK “thugs and their allies retain power…and continue the tradition of corruption.”

“The Lavalas Family strongly rejects the betrayal scandal that occurred on April 30,” the party said.

Fils represents the January 30 political group, which is made up of parties including PHTK, whose members include former President Michel Martelly and slain President Jovenel Moïse. Meanwhile, Augustin represents the EDE/RED political party, founded by former Prime Minister Claude Joseph, and Gilles represents the Dec. 21 agreement, which is associated with f ormer Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who recently resigned.

Henry was on an official visit to Kenya to push for the U.N.-backed deployment of a police force from the East African country when gangs in Haiti launched coordinated attacks starting Feb. 29.

They have burned police stations, opened fire on the main international airport that remains closed since early March and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates. The violence continues unabated in certain part of Port-au-Prince, including the area around the National Palace.

Haitians are demanding that security be a top priority for the council, which is tasked with selecting a new prime minister and Cabinet, as well as prepare for eventual general elections.

But some Haitians are wary of the council and the decisions it’s taking.

Jean Selcé, a 57-year-old electrician, noted that most of the council members are longtime politicians: “Their past is not really positive.”

“I hope their mentality can change, but I don’t believe it will,” he said. “They don’t really love the country. Who’s dying right now? It’s Haitians like me.”

Robert Fatton, a Haitian politics expert at the University of Virginia, noted that some of the parties represented on the council are responsible for the current chaos in Haiti.

“It’s a contradiction,” he said. “Every time we seem to be in a crisis, we reappoint the same people and hope that they change their ways, but they do not.”

Raising the same criticism is Michael Deibert, author of “Notes From the Last Testament: The Struggle for Haiti,” and “Haiti Will Not Perish: A Recent History.”

He noted in a recent essay that the council is “dominated by the same political currents who have spent the last 25 years driving Haiti over a cliff, taking advantage of impoverished young men in the slums to be used as political bludgeons before - bloated on the proceeds from kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking and other criminal enterprises - these groups outgrew the necessity of their patrons.”

More than 2,500 people have been killed or injured across Haiti from January to March, according to the U.N.

In addition, more than 90,000 people have fled Port-au-Prince in just one month given the relentless gang violence.

Street vendors move their booth after gunshots broke out near the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Police patrol near the National Palace amid the sound of gunshots in the distance in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

CORRECTS DAY - People run for cover as shots ring out near the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Edgard Leblanc Fils speaks after the transitional council named him president of the council in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The transitional council will act as the country’s presidency until it can arrange presidential elections sometime before it disbands, which must be by February 2026. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Transitional council member Frisnel Joseph speaks during a ceremony to name its president and a prime minister in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The transitional council will act as the country’s presidency until it can arrange presidential elections sometime before it disbands, which must be by February 2026. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

IDENTIFIES TRANSITIONAL COUNCIL MEMBERS - Transitional Council members, from left to right; Fritz Alphonse Jean, Laurent Saint-Cyr, Frinel Joseph, Edgard Leblanc Fils, Regine Abraham, Emmanuel Vertilaire, Smith Augustin, Leslie Voltaire and Louis Gerald Gilles, pose for a group photo after a ceremony to name its president and a prime minister in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Fils was chosen as the president of the panel. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Edgard Leblanc Fils, left, and Smith Augustin prepare to pose for a group photo with the transitional council after it named Fils as its president in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The transitional council will act as the country’s presidency until it can arrange presidential elections sometime before it disbands, which must be by February 2026. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)