Suriname has become the latest Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to indicate a willingness to send troops to Haiti as part of a United Nations sanctioned Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission to be led by Kenya.
“We will support our CARICOM sister state. We will provide support through, among other things, a police mission that will be led by Kenya,” said President Chandrikapersad Santokhi.
He told the online Suriname-based publication, Starnieuws that many more people die every day in Haiti than in the war between Russia and Ukraine and that little help is being received from the various countries for the French-speaking CARICOM country.
“Do you know how many people die every day in Haiti because of the eruptions that have occurred?” Santokhi asked in a rhetorical question.
He said that support for Haiti should take place at three levels, namely at the international, regional and bilateral.
He said internationally, the United Nations Security Council late last year approved a resolution to support Haiti with the physical presence of an international police mission. Santokhi said the Ministers of Justice, Police and Defense are already working with the Suriname Police Corps and the National Army to put together a team to send to Port au Prince.
“The people who are delegated must first be properly trained. We are not going to just send our people,” he said, adding that the situation goes far beyond national boundaries.
“One day you may also need Haiti or another friendly nation,” he told the online publication.
Haiti has been steeped in political turmoil and social unrest following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise on July 7, 2021.
Rival gangs have over-run the poverty-stricken French-speaking country, plunging citizens into further despair and forcing several foreign agencies to remove non-essential staff from their offices in Haiti.
More than 2,500 people were killed or injured across Haiti from January to March, according to the United Nations. Nearly 95,000 people have fled Port-au-Prince. People are struggling to find food and access healthcare with Haiti’s ports and airport closed.
A nine-member transitional council, (CPT), which has been sworn into office, is tasked with setting the stage for free and general elections in Haiti by 2025.