CARICOM Heads to meet in Jamaica on Monday to deal with the Haitian Crisis

MONTEGO BAY,  March 9, 2024 - CARICOM Chairman Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali  has invited the heads of Government of countries which Haiti has engaged as partners, to meet with CARICOM heads in Kingston, Jamaica on Monday the 11th of March, to urgently address matters critical to the stabilization of security and the provision of urgent humanitarian aid to the people of Haiti.

In a statement, Ali said “The Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community remain engaged in deep discussions with the various stakeholders in Haiti and Prime Minister Henry. Whilst we are making considerable progress the stakeholders are not yet where they need to be.

"We are acutely aware of the urgent need for consensus to be reached.  We have impressed on the respective parties that time is not on their side in agreeing to the way forward. From our reports, the situation on the ground remains dire, and is of serious concern to us.

The CARICOM  Chairman said it was vital that the Jamaica engagement on Monday be at the highest level possible, to send a clear message of unity between CARICOM and the international community as we work together to provide critical support to the Haitian people at this time of crisis for them.

"We would like the Haitian people to know that we will continue to work with them, on their behalf until there is a satisfactory resolution that brings stability and relief to them.” It is now known whether embattled Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry will be in attendance.

CARICOM's central effort has been to try to assist Haiti to establish a popularly approved and supported "National Unity Transition Administration."

This administration would be invested with the task of establishing an acceptable level of security in the country and making arrangements for the holding of free and fair Elections.

CARICOM established a "Group of Eminent Persons" (EPG) on Haiti comprised of three former Prime Ministers and charged it with engaging in discussions and negotiations with ALL of the Haitian stakeholders with a view to helping them to make the necessary compromises.

The members of the EPG are former Prime Ministers Kenny Anthony (St Lucia), Bruce Golding (Jamaica) and Perry Christie (Bahamas).

The EPG has tried and continues to try valiantly to carry out its mandate and has had many engagements with the Haitian stakeholders in Haiti and outside of Haiti. EPG has been funded by our CARICOM countries.

It is widely felt within CARICOM that the  Multinational Security Intervention that has been mandated by the United Nations Security Council, and that is supposed to be led by Kenya, needs to take place under the auspices of such a National Unity Transition Administration rather than under the auspices of the Ariel Henry Administration.

Virtually all CARICOM nations believe that the Haitian National Police needs to be bolstered by outside assistance in order to deal with the lawlessness, disruption and deaths perpetrated by a profusion of criminal gangs in Haiti.

But many are convinced that a National Unity Administration needs to be in place to facilitate and give national Haitian legitimacy to said outside assistance.

CARICOM has been pushing Ariel Henry to make the compromises necessary to establish a popularly supported National Unity Administration, even if one of those necessary compromises entails his resignation.

In the meantime, ABC News is reporting that Haitian gangs on Friday afternoon, launched a large-scale assault against multiple government buildings in or near downtown Port-au-Prince early Friday evening, according to a law enforcement source who took part in the fighting.

The ABC News source said the attack was coordinated and swift, with different groups simultaneously targeting multiple government buildings including the Presidential Palace, the Interior Ministry, and a police headquarters for Haiti's western district which includes Port-au-Prince.

Its understood that the Presidential Palace which has not been occupied since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in July 2021, may have been a primary target for the gangs. Were the palace to fall under gang control, it would be an enormously symbolic blow to Haiti's efforts to fight organized crime and its ongoing rebellion in the country.

However, the palace, despite being partially destroyed in 2010 by a massive earthquake, making much of it completely unusable, remains a poignant symbol of Haitian federal governance and is well guarded around the clock.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Ariel Henry remains in Puerto Rico under the watchful eyes of the FBI, as the gang leaders demand his resignation in order to, on Tuesday, install their proposed new tri-umverate government structure.

It is proposed that Judge Durin Junior Duret from the Court of Appeals will act as the head.

He will be flanked by notable figures such as the controversial former rebel leader Guy Philippe who was instrumental in the 2004 rebellion against former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and respected religious sector figure Francoise Saint-Vil Villier.

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