Hopes that strife-torn Haiti could get an interim government to stabilize gang violence, host a multinational peacekeeping force, and organize fresh general elections in the coming months soared in the past week, with most of the groups identified to participate handing in names to serve in the administration.
Up to the weekend, one of the few major stumbling blocks that had remained for the formation of the presidential council had to do with internal disagreements by the December 21 group that had submitted two names to sit on the council, though they have been allotted only one, like the other six political parties and two civil society groups.
Up to mid last week, December 21 had three names on the list they had submitted to the joint group involving Caribbean Community leaders and an array of Haitian stakeholders, signaling their inability so far to pick a single nominee.
A second group linked to ex-senator Jean Charles Moise of the Platform Pitit Dessalines party has already rejected Caricom’s offer to help form an interim government for its poorest and most populous member state, leaving the proposed nine-person council with seven members.
The latest word from the 15-nation bloc is that December 21 might, this week, propose a compromise candidate, separate and apart, from the two submitted names to get the processing moving and sealed, but Caricom says it will go ahead with the whittled-down administration as a start while leaving the door open for the disaffected to join when they are ready.
The push to form an interim administration took firm root at a Caricom emergency meeting of interested parties, the U.S., the United Nations, Canada, France, and Mexico, among other players a week ago in Jamaica, where the decision to form an umbrella interim administration was finalized.
As the new week began, Caricom ambassadors in New York and Jamaican Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith were preparing to brief the UN Security Council on Monday at a closed-door session primarily on Haiti. The UN has already authorized a multinational peacekeeping force to head to Haiti to take on heavily armed gangs which have disrupted life in the country. Deployment of troops and police officers from Kenya, Benin, and Caricom nations has been stalled because of legal hurdles in Kenya, which is the lead country with 1,000 officers.
Meanwhile, the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) have stepped up maritime surveillance in the wake of the ongoing unrest in Haiti, saying that they cannot absorb any more Haitian migrants. The British are sending marine assets to the TCI, one of its remaining colonies in the region, to intercept any migrants, while the Bahamas are doing likewise.
Prime Minister Phillip Davis, a leading Caribbean advocate for a solution for Haiti, says the archipelago has no choice.
“We are now deploying significant defense force assets to establish a southern Bahamas blockade operation, including surface vessels, aircraft, and 120 highly trained personnel,” said Davis in a weekend statement. “Operations will focus on the northern coast of Haiti, the Old Bahama Channel, and the Windward Passage. As we expand our patrols in our southern waters, the United States and the United Kingdom are also working to position assets in the region. We are working with the U.S. Coast Guard, with Turks and Caicos, and with the Cuban border patrol, to share critical intelligence and align our efforts. Through these collaborative efforts, we have successfully intercepted a number of vessels originating from Haiti. The repatriation of individuals aboard those vessels will be conducted in a manner that prioritizes the safety of our officers and respects the human rights and dignity of the passenger,” he said.
And while this is occurring, the U.S. is sending planes to evacuate Haitian-American citizens from Haiti, using the airport at Cap Haitian in the north rather than the one in the capital, which is under the control of gangs. Citizens will have to make their own way to the airport and will have to pay for seats.
