Haiti has been in bloody chaos for weeks as armed criminal gangs attack state institutions, but security forces are unable to restore order.
Countries in the region, led by the United States, have pledged additional funding to send to Haiti a multinational security force pledged to be led by the African nation of Kenya.
The Prime Minister cannot return to Haiti
Haitian Prime Minister Henri’s resignation came as a result of both internal and external pressure.
Henri traveled to Kenya two weeks ago to hammer out a deal to send 1,000 Kenyan police officers to Haiti to help local law enforcement fight gang violence that has killed and wounded thousands of people and kidnapped hundreds more in the country over the past year.
While the prime minister had gone to Kenya, Haiti’s most powerful gangster, Jimmy Cherisier, nicknamed “Barbecue”, declared war on Henri.
Gangs under Cherizier staged coordinated attacks on government facilities in the capital, Port-au-Prince, as well as the country’s two largest prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.
The gangs also tried to seize Haiti’s largest international airport, so the work of the airport was suspended and Prime Minister Henri could not return to the country. He has been stuck in US-held Puerto Rico for a week.
The countries of the region offer a plan for exiting the crisis
An emergency meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was held in Jamaica on Monday, which was also attended by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. During the meeting, the countries of the region made it clear that they wanted Henri’s resignation to try to stabilize the situation in Haiti.
After the meeting, Blinken announced that the countries of the region had proposed a plan to bring Haiti out of the deep crisis.
“We support the plan to create a broad, inclusive and independent panel that would, first, take concrete steps to meet the urgent needs of the Haitian people; second, enable the rapid deployment of a multinational security support mission; and third, through that mission, through enhanced Haitian police force, would create the security conditions necessary to hold free and fair elections,” said the US Secretary of State.
Blinken also added that the United States will provide an additional $100 million for the deployment of multinational security forces in Haiti, as well as $33 million for sending humanitarian aid to Haiti.
Late on Monday, Henri announced that his government would step down after a transitional government was formed.
He also called on the people of Haiti to remain calm and do everything possible to return stability to the country as soon as possible.
Gangs want to get involved in government formation
It is currently unclear how the creation of Haiti’s transitional government will take place, but there are reports that criminal groups who do not want to allow the deployment of multinational security forces in the country want to get involved in the process.
UN human rights expert William O’Neill, who has visited Haiti several times in recent years, believes that gang leaders should be put in prison and not allowed to be involved in deciding the country’s future.
“Gang leaders have been terrorizing the people of Haiti for years, and especially in recent weeks. Murders, disappearances, rapes, kidnappings for ransom. These are brutal, violent people who have no support from the people. They may control the territory, but they rule , using total terror against the population.
That’s why I think they should not participate in any negotiations, they should be restrained. They have no ideology other than power and money.
Gang members are not ready to die for their leader or idea. If someone is stronger than them, they won’t fight, they won’t commit suicide,” O’Neill said in an interview with Deutsche Welle.
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2024-03-12 10:39:57
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