Six months after their first engagement with politically warring Haitian civil society and other groups, a team of former prime ministers has been appointed by Caribbean Community (Caricom) governments to mediate in the situation. The group says its latest foray into Haiti has encouraged it to continue its efforts into next year because some amount of progress has been made.
At the request of Haitian organizations, Caribbean leaders had, mid-last year, appointed the eminent persons group (EPG) composed of former prime ministers Bruce Golding of Jamaica, Perry Christie of the Bahamas, and Kenneth Anthony of St. Lucia, to attempt to bring the parties together to help revitalize non-functioning state organizations, prepare for possible general elections next year, and liaise with foreign governments to organize a peacekeeping force to help curb the power of heavily armed gangs and warlords roaming the capital and other parts of the country.
The EPG has paid several visits to Haiti. Its latest wrapped up last weekend and, based on its latest release, the former leaders appear to be more encouraged that groups with diverse positions on a range of issues have, in some cases, eased away from hardline stances and are prepared to continue talking.
One key demand of several stakeholder groups was for the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who had taken over government after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise by hired mercenaries, most of them Colombian gunmen. Several have been arrested and charged, while some of the local intellectual authorities of the assassination have also been indicted.
Haiti now has no president, no elected parliamentary official, many provincial mayors whose terms have expired, and a government whose term has also expired. The Caricom team has said that part of its mandate is to work toward providing “a transitional governance arrangement to take the troubled country to free and fair elections. The negotiations, attended by representatives of a broad cross-section of political and civil society stakeholders, including Prime Minister Henry, provided an opportunity for narrowing of differences on the details of the transitional governance arrangement.”
In previous releases, the team expressed its frustration at the extent of distance between some stakeholder groups, but now says that “the stakeholders achieved consensus on several aspects of the draft framework and have agreed to continue discussions between themselves in the absence of the EPG on the key areas of the balance of power and representation within the proposed transitional arrangements.”
Haiti is Caricom’s most populous and poorest nation, and the last nation to join the 15-nation bloc back in 2002. Many in Haiti had criticized the region for not doing enough to help pull the country out of the political and economic doldrums, but the prime ministers appear to be signaling an intention to stay the course and return to the island nation in the new year to continue prodding the various groups toward an agreement to restore constitutional institutions and organize general elections in the coming months. A session with Haitian groups was also held in Jamaica in June.
Meanwhile, the Bahamas has already offered to contribute 150 troops to any multinational peacekeeping force in Haiti, but the main opposition — the Free National Movement (FNM) — wants to know why this is the case when there is rising crime and other problems at home.
“The government should have a candid conversation with the Bahamian people, Madam Speaker, with respect to the deployment of Bahamians in Haiti,” said Leader Mike Pintard in a debate last week. “We are still waiting for the government to take its time and have a candid conversation with Bahamians in terms of its plans in Haiti, Madam Speaker. That’s a reasonable request of our population — as we deploy Bahamians in Haiti, we ought to know several things. The government should explain the rationale of doing so. And I’m certain there are more than enough rational reasons why they are considering it, but explain it to the population. They have an obligation to do so.”
Jamaica and other Caricom member nations have also offered to contribute to a force whenever it is organized.