24 Jamaican security forces arrive in Haiti

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

“The security forces remain on high alert to support further deployments to our overall deployment as the mission in Haiti is scaled up,” Holness said. “Jamaica has close brotherly ties with the people of Haiti and we stand in solidarity with them.”

The announcement was made during a post-Cabinet press conference at Jamaica House. The Jamaican Prime Minister stressed that this initial deployment is intended to support the command, planning and logistics of the mission.

Holness stressed that Haiti’s gang problem is a regional problem that cannot be solved by regular police interventions and the criminal justice system alone. He stressed the importance of Jamaica 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-term solution to the problems in Haiti.”

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

At least four police officers have been killed in recent weeks. The latest victim, Officer Dorcé Scudéry, a member of the 32nd SWAT promotion, died Tuesday from wounds he 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 a lack of air transport for medical evacuations to hospitals in the Haitian capital.

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

The deployment of Jamaican security forces follows US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Haiti last week. During his visit, Blinken praised the performance of Kenyan police officers in the multinational mission. He also announced $45 million in US humanitarian assistance to Haiti and stressed the need to train, equip and strengthen mission personnel.

In addition, Blinken confirmed the U.S. plan to persuade the United Nations General Assembly, which meets this week in New York, to transform the MSS into a UN mission to secure additional funding and resources and facilitate its long-term success. The U.S. diplomat indicated that he would encourage greater international involvement 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 pivotal 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 deteriorated since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021.

Despite several failed meetings, an agreement was reached in March this year to establish a nine-member Transitional Presidential Council (CPT) to replace the government of then Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Since then, however, Haiti has seen an unprecedented escalation in gang violence, with more than 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), backed by Kenyan officers, have been trying to restore peace, particularly in the capital and its environs. To bolster efforts, the commander of the UN-backed MSS, Godfrey Otunge, announced last week that troops from Jamaica, the Bahamas and Belize would be deployed to Haiti in late September.

“This will give the mission the truly multinational character that it lacked,” Otunge said. “At that point, the gang leaders will have no place to hide unless they lay down their weapons and surrender to the government.”

The United Nations approved the Kenyan-led force in October 2023. Critics in Kenya promptly challenged the constitutionality of deploying police outside the 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 to the mission, “the last step” before the deployment of Kenyan officers began in June.

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