Highlights: Haiti: the Caribbean Community meets urgently on the security crisis shaking the country. As Haiti descends into chaos, with criminal gangs controlling between 80% and 90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, an emergency meeting was convened on Monday, March 11. The United States (represented by its head of diplomacy Anthony Blinken), Canada, France and the UN will also be present... but no representative of the Haitian government. The Haitian capital continued this weekend to descend into violence linked to gangs who are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

As Haiti descends into chaos, with criminal gangs controlling between 80% and 90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, an emergency meeting in Jamaica was convened on Monday, March 11,…

Haiti: the Caribbean Community meets urgently on the security crisis shaking the country

As Haiti sinks into chaos, with criminal gangs controlling between 80% and 90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, an emergency meeting in Jamaica was called, Monday, March 11, by the Community of the Caribbean (Caricom).

To find a solution to the country's serious security crisis, the United States (represented by its head of diplomacy Anthony Blinken), Canada, France and the UN will also be present... but no representative of the Haitian government.

Motorists drive past a burning barricade during a protest as the government announced it would extend the state of emergency for another month, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 7, 2024. © Ralph Tedy Erol / Reuters

By: RFI with AFP

The Haitian capital continued this weekend to descend into violence linked to gangs who are demanding

the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry

, just like part of the population.

With this meeting, Caricom and the invited countries would “

seek to bring order

and

restore confidence to the Haitian people

,” declared the vice-president of Guyana on the eve of the emergency meeting.

Criminals have taken control of the country.
There is no government, it is becoming a bankrupt society

,” he added.

As the Americans and a number of European countries began to evacuate their diplomatic personnel, Caricom and several Western states are looking into the political transition in Haiti.

The opposition is advancing in a dispersed manner, which does not make things easy.

Several scenarios in sight, all foreseeing the departure of Ariel Henry

According to information from Radio Télé Métronome, four proposals are on the table.

These are interim governance projects submitted to Caricom among others by the Montana agreement, the En Avant party, or the collective of political parties of January 30.

The United States favors the establishment of a presidential council which could lead the country until the next elections are held.

In any case, all these proposals have one thing in common: they envisage

the political future of the country without the current Prime Minister Ariel Henry

The latter is still stuck in Puerto Rico.

The United States strongly encourages him to officially resign, but for now he clings to power.

Appointed by President Jovenel Moïse just before his assassination in 2021, Ariel Henry should have left office at the beginning of February, at the official end of his mandate.

Without a president or parliament, the country has not had an election since 2016.

Port-au-Prince is the scene of clashes between police and armed gangs, who attack strategic sites including the presidential palace, police stations and prisons.

It is “

a city under siege

,” Philippe Branchat

, the head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for Haiti,

warned on Saturday .

Dozens of residents sought refuge in public buildings on Saturday, some managing to enter an establishment.

The authorities declared a state of emergency a week ago in the West department, which includes the capital, and established a nighttime curfew.

Also read Who is Jimmy Chérizier aka “Barbecue”, gang leader in Haiti who is plunging the country into chaos?

Waiting for the Kenyan-led mission

The UN Security Council agreed months ago to

send a Kenyan-led international mission

to help the Haitian police, but its deployment is sorely overdue.

The Prime Minister signed an agreement in Nairobi at the beginning of March to allow the sending of Kenyan police officers, and has since sought to return to Haiti.

The head of American diplomacy and the president of Kenya spoke about the ongoing crisis and “underlined

their unwavering commitment to the deployment of a multinational security support mission

” to “

create the necessary security conditions to the holding of free and fair elections

,” a State Department spokesperson said Saturday.

Also read: “In Haiti, we assume that gangs always have strong links with power”

Haiti: the Caribbean Community meets urgently on the security crisis shaking the country

Haiti: the Caribbean Community meets urgently on the security crisis shaking the country

Several scenarios in sight, all foreseeing the departure of Ariel Henry

Waiting for the Kenyan-led mission

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