CARICOM leaders searching for a swift Haitian-led solution to crisis

Last Updated on Tuesday, 5 March 2024, 15:52 by Denis Chabrol

In the wake of an even worsening security crisis as a result of the escape of over 4,000 prisoners from Haiti’s major prison, the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on Tuesday said it was hoping for a swift resolution to the situation there by Haitians themselves.

“The complexity requires us in these consultations to ensure that a Haitian-led and a Haitian-owned solution may be achieved as soon as possible,” CARICOM Chairman, Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali said after a regional meeting on the situation in that country.

Dr Ali did not give a time-frame within which details of the expected solution would emerge. “We remain deeply engaged and will update on the outcome of our deliberations as soon as practicable,” he said.

Just days after interim Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry committed to sharing power with the opposition as part of preparations for presidential elections before August 2025, Haitian gangs broken open the largest prison and allowed the escape.

Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne had expected a power-sharing deal to be struck within another month. The massive prison escape occurred as Mr Henry was in Kenya, the country that would be leading the United Nations peacekeeping mission.  Benin, a French-speaking African nation, is also expected to contribute 2,000 troops on the ground of that French Creole-speaking Caribbean nation.

The Guyanese leader said CARICOM has been singularly focused on the events unfolding in Haiti over the last few days. He said the  expanded Bureau has been meeting separately with Prime Minister Henry, stakeholders in Haiti, and the region’s international partners.

Dr Ali said CARICOM wanted to find a way to ease the socio-economic and political chaos in that country of about 12 million persons. The CARICOM Chairman said the region wants “to bring resolution to this highly complex matter, where persons’ lives and livelihoods are at stake.”

At the weekend, Haitian gang leader,  Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, said he would continue in his effort to try to oust Prime Minister Henry. “We ask the Haitian National Police and the military to take responsibility and arrest Ariel Henry. Once again, the population is not our enemy; the armed groups are not your enemy. You arrest Ariel Henry for the country’s liberation,” Cherizier, a former policeman,  was quoted by CNN as saying, adding, “With these weapons, we will liberate the country, and these weapons will change the country.”