“We are having a very active discussion with countries in the region and beyond. We are also actively discussing with the United Nations (…) The question is partly to ensure that these countries will play an important role in the force, and to arrive at the country that will assume its leadership. This is something, I repeat, we are very actively involved in,” Mr. Blinken said during a press conference.
The US government is “very actively discussing” with those of other countries the creation of an international police intervention force in Haiti, an impoverished country plunged into crisis due to gang violence, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said yesterday in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. where the headquarters of CARICOM (Caribbean regional organization) is located.
“We are having a very active discussion with countries in the region and beyond. We are also actively discussing with the United Nations (…) The question is partly to ensure that these countries will play an important role in the force, and to arrive at the country that will assume its leadership. This is something, I repeat, we are very actively involved in,” Mr. Blinken said during a press conference.
Haiti is facing a “state of emergency” and “we are working to make progress,” he added.
“As you heard from the Haitian leaders, from the Haitian people (…) there is a consensus regarding the need for a multinational force of some kind to support the work of the police” to make the situation “safer,” he insisted.
The Haitian government must “be able to regain control”, so that “the gangs do not rule” as is the case in “so many areas of the country”, he added.
Haiti’s Prime Minister, Ariel Henri, has been calling for almost a year to send an international force to his country, but so far no country has said it is ready to lead the mission.
Mr Blinken, who met Mr Henry on the sidelines of the CARICOM summit in Trinidad and Tobago last Wednesday night, then called on the “international community” to “come together”.
At least 264 people accused of belonging to gangs have been killed by self-rule militias in Haiti since April, the UN special envoy to the crisis-stricken Caribbean nation said Thursday.
With the police unable to deal with the unprecedented violence of the gangs, which control most of the capital Port-au-Prince, groups of residents have decided to take justice into their own hands.
“The Haitian people are trapped in a waking nightmare,” commented the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, who visited Port-au-Prince on Saturday.
“The humanitarian situation is beyond appalling. Inhumane gangs have put the Haitian population under their control,” added the Portuguese.
Source :Skai
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