Leaders of CARICOM countries convened in Jamaica this week to discuss the way forward for the Republic of Haiti after the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister, Ariel Henry and continued unrest due to gang violence.
CARICOM Chairman and President of Guyana, His Excellency Irfaan Ali addressed whether member states are prepared to take in Haitians until a new government can he established. He said, “that was not for discussion at these meetings. We’re focused on the stability of Haiti, stabilizing Haiti, working towards putting Haiti on a path of prosperity, development and a path of political stability and leading to free and fair elections, that is the priority, and the security of the Haitian people having humanitarian aid in there, that is where our focus was.”
Ali also spoke on the ongoing issue of gang violence in Haiti. “The idea of having normalcy is to allow the institutions to function, that room to breath and to grow and to function and to deal with some of the situations on the ground which include the gangs. Of course, the present capacity and capability is compromised because they don’t have the human resource asset neither the physical asset, the equipment and so on. And that is what we’re working on, to support the transitional mechanism to deal with the issue of crime and gangs,” he said.
CARICOM also announced the establishment of a transitional a transitional presidential council which will appoint a new Prime Minister and Ministers to govern Haiti until elections can be held.
