KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Prime Minister Andrew Holness says Jamaica will begin its participation in the multi-national security operation in Haiti, with the deployment of 24 members of its own security forces.
Holness who was speaking during Tuesday’s post-cabinet press briefing, said the initial deployment will include 20 soldiers and four police officers, who will depart the island on Thursday.
He said they will be under the command of Jamaica’s Colonel Kevron Henry, who will be second in command of the overall multi-national contingent.
Several hundred Kenyan security personnel are already in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member state, as the spearhead of the Multi-National Support Mission, under the mandate of the United Nations, in an effort to restore civil order to that country.
Over the last year, heavily armed gangs have taken control of large portions of the country’s capital, Port au Prince, displacing thousands of residents and causing the resignation of the interim government that was set up following the assassination of the country’s last elected president, Jovenel Moise, on March 7, 2021.
“The (Jamaican) security forces continue in a state of readiness to support further deployment towards our overall commitment, as the mission in Haiti scales up,” Holness said.
He reiterated that “Jamaica has close fraternal ties to the people of Haiti, and we stand in solidarity with them,” he added that it’s in Jamaica’s direct national security interest to contribute to the restoration of stability and the rule of law in Haiti.
Highlighting “the growing entrenchment of gangs” in Jamaica, itself, “spreading terror in communities and weakening the state’s guarantee to citizens’ security,” he said it was important to participate in the multi-national effort to cauterise the threat in Haiti before it grows further and overwhelm Jamaica and other Caribbean states which are being similarly destabilised.
Jamaican security officials have confirmed a strong link between gangs in Jamaica and Haiti, this is directly related to the smuggling of arms and ammunition from Haiti to Jamaica.
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