SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Jamaica’s prime minister said his government is ready to deploy soldiers and police to Haiti as part of a planned multinational security assistance operation.
The announcement comes a week after the UN special envoy for Haiti, Helen La Lime, said she hoped the UN Security Council would treat the Haitian government’s pending request for international forces “positively”, although the US and Canada showed no interest show.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness told the island’s House of Representatives Tuesday that he wanted to help Haiti and “support a return to an adequate level of stability and peace that would be necessary for any inclusive, democratic process to take root.”
The announcement appears to be the first time a nation in the Western Hemisphere has publicly taken a foothold on the ground, after Haiti’s prime minister and other top officials called for the immediate deployment of foreign troops amid a crippling fuel siege blamed on the country’s most powerful in early October Corridor.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres and La Lime have unsuccessfully supported Haiti’s appeal.
The UN Security Council considered the request but took no action, instead imposing sanctions on individuals including Jimmy Chérizier, a dominant gang leader and former police officer accused of planning multiple massacres.
“We have the impression that the international community has not yet recognized the urgency of the situation facing the Haitian people,” Léon Charles, former chief of the Haitian National Police, said Wednesday during a meeting of the Organization of American States.
“My country is going through one of the most difficult moments in its history,” said Charles, Haiti’s permanent representative to the OAS.
He likened the aid Haiti has received so far from the international community to buckets of water that help put out a raging fire when the country needs fire engines equipped with heavy-duty hoses.
Meanwhile, Holness said Jamaica stands ready to offer bilateral assistance if needed.
“We really hope that Haiti will soon overcome its challenges and, with the full support of the international community, embark on a path to restoring stability, lasting peace and sustainable development to its country and people,” he said.
Vanessa Frazier, Malta’s ambassador to the United Nations and current President of the Security Council, told a council meeting on Tuesday that she welcomed Jamaica’s statement, adding that it had not yet received notifications from other countries.
“Hopefully we will because we understand that this … multinational security force is very important and needed on the ground to stabilize the situation in Haiti,” she said.
Jamaica is a member of a regional trade bloc called Caricom, which last week issued a statement urging “all stakeholders to unite in search of a consensus agreement” to resolve what he described as a protracted political deadlock in Haiti, and added that it is ready to hold a meeting in the Caribbean to discuss the issue.
When the remaining 10 senators expired in early January, Haiti was stripped of all democratically elected institutions. Prime Minister Ariel Henry has promised to hold general elections for more than a year, but a provisional Electoral Council has yet to be elected, which some critics say has resulted in a de facto dictatorship.
Haiti has also grappled with a level of violence not seen in decades since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse at his home in July 2021, with gangs now believed to control 60% of the Port-au-Prince capital.
The number of reported kidnappings rose to 1,359 last year, double the previous year’s figure, and the number of reported killings rose by a third to 2,183, according to the UN
“These are really frightening numbers,” said Charles. “The situation in Haiti is extremely urgent.”
Haiti’s National Police has fewer than 9,000 active duty officers for a country of more than 11 million that faces not only a surge in violence but also rising poverty, widespread hunger and a deadly outbreak of cholera.
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Associated Press reporter Edith M. Lederer of the United Nations contributed.