24 Jamaican security personnel to arrive in Haiti 

PORT-AU-PRINCE—Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced on Tuesday that 24 of the 250 police and military personnel pledged by Jamaica to the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission will arrive in Haiti as early as Thursday,  Sep. 12. This initial deployment will include 20 personnel from the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and four members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

“The security forces remain in a state of readiness to support further deployment toward our overall commitment as the mission in Haiti is scaled up,” Holness said. “Jamaica has close fraternal ties to the people of Haiti, and we stand in solidarity with them.” 

The announcement was made during a post-cabinet press briefing at the Jamaica House. The Jamaican PM emphasized that this initial deployment aims to support mission command, planning, and logistics.

Holness highlighted that the gang issue in Haiti is a regional problem that regular police interventions and the criminal justice system alone cannot resolve. He stressed Jamaica’s vested interest in improving the situation in Haiti, as organized armed violence in the region poses a threat to the state itself.

“Jamaica also has a national security interest in the situation in Haiti, one of our closest neighbors,” the prime minister added. “It is in our interest to support a long-lasting resolution to the problems in Haiti.”

He extended his best wishes to the Jamaican soldiers who will join forces with the 400 Kenyan police officers already on the ground in the country. This comes amid ongoing clashes between gangs and Haitian security forces, with Haitian police officers continuing to face deadly attacks.

In recent weeks, at least four police officers were killed. The latest victim, Officer Dorcé Scudéry, a member of the 32nd SWAT promotion, died on Tuesday from injuries sustained after being shot during police operations in Gressier, a municipality about 12.5 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince. His death was attributed to the lack of air transport for medical evacuation to hospitals in the Haitian capital.

This brings the total number of Haitian police officers killed by gunfire this year to 24. Several officers have been injured, and multiple police facilities have been destroyed by powerful armed gangs, including the Ganthier police station and those in Gressier and Carrefour.

The deployment of the Jamaican security forces follows U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Haiti last week. During his visit, Blinken praised the achievements of the Kenyan police officers in the multinational mission. He also announced $45 million in U.S. humanitarian aid to Haiti and highlighted the need to train, equip, and empower the mission personnel.

Additionally, Blinken confirmed the U.S. plan to convince the United Nations Assembly, which will meet in New York this week, to transform the MSS into a UN mission to secure additional funding and resources and facilitate its long-term success. The head of U.S. diplomacy indicated that he would encourage greater international engagement and contributions to address Haiti’s security, economic, and urgent humanitarian needs.

Since last year, Jamaica — one of the most influential members of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) — has been crucial in addressing Haiti’s political and security crisis. In June 2023, it facilitated meetings between Haitian political leaders and civil society representatives to find a solution to the situation, which has worsened since President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination in July 2021.

Despite several unsuccessful meetings, an agreement was reached in March this year to establish a nine-member Transitional Presidential Council (CPT) in replacement of then-Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s government. However, Haiti has since experienced an unprecedented escalation of gang violence, with over 3,900 people killed or injured in the first half of 2024, according to the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH), and 185,000 displaced in Port-au-Prince alone, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In response, the Haitian National Police (PNH), supported by Kenyan officers, have been attempting to restore peace, particularly in the capital and its surroundings. To bolster efforts, the commander of the UN-backed MSS, Godfrey Otunge, announced last week that forces from Jamaica, the Bahamas, and Belize would be deployed to Haiti by the end of September.

“This will give the mission the truly multinational character it has been missing,” said Otunge. “At that point, the gang leaders will have nowhere to hide unless they lay down their arms and surrender to the government.”

The United Nations approved the Kenya-led force in October 2023. Critics in Kenya promptly challenged the constitutionality of using police outside that country, leading to a delay. In January 2024, Kenya’s judiciary approved the deployment with a caveat. Former Prime Minister Henry announced in February that he would hold elections in 2025. He then flew to Kenya to finalize and sign a security deal to deploy 1,000 Kenyan police officers in the mission, “the last step” before Kenyan officers’ deployment began in June.

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