Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Fred Mitchell gave an update on the crisis in Haiti. On Friday a court in Kenya blocked the deployment of 1000 Kenyan police officers to lead a peacekeeping mission in Haiti. Also on Monday the Bahamian embassy was closed due to mass demonstrations.
Minister Mitchell explained, “there was an accord which was done last year, maybe, that said by the 7th of February all of these issues should have been resolved, political issues. So the opposition forces on the ground there are mounting a campaign to try and force the Prime Minister out by the 7th of February. As a result our embassy was closed this morning just as a precaution but we’ll keep monitoring the situation.”
Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Michael Pintard also weighed in on the situation in Haiti and the government’s response. He said, “the government is engaging in a dereliction of duty. They have an obligation to talk to the Bahamian people in and out of Parliament about their decision to deploy Bahamians in Haiti. And there are a number of these they ought to comment on, very specifically, what the role is that we’ll be playing, what is the projected time, are there costs associated with it and will the Bahamian people bear those costs.”
