The offer comes after the Haitian government requested international support to help with gang violence in the country.
Jamaica’s prime minister has said his government is willing to send soldiers and police to Haiti as part of a proposed multinational security assistance deployment.
The announcement comes a week after the United Nations’ special envoy for Haiti, Helen La Lime, said she hoped the UN Security Council would “positively” treat the Haitian government’s pending request for international armed forces, despite the fact that Canada and the United States showed no interest.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness told the island’s House of Representatives on Tuesday that he wants to help Haiti and “support a return to a reasonable level of stability and peace, which would be necessary for any inclusive democratic process to take root.” .
The announcement appears to be the first time a Western Hemisphere nation has publicly offered boots on the ground after Haiti’s prime minister and other top officials called for the immediate deployment of foreign troops in early October amid a fuel siege. paralysis attributed to the most powerful gangs in the country. .
The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, and La Lime have endorsed Haiti’s request to no avail.
The UN Security Council mulled the request but took no action, opting instead to sanction some people involved in the riots, including Jimmy Chérizier, a dominant gang leader and former police officer accused of planning multiple attacks. and brutal murders.
“We have the impression that the international community has not yet taken stock of the urgency of the situation facing the Haitian people,” Léon Charles, former head of the Haitian National Police, said Wednesday during a meeting of the Organization of Haitians. American States (OAS). meeting.
“My country is experiencing one of the most difficult moments in its history,” said Charles, who is Haiti’s permanent representative to the OAS.
He compared the aid Haiti has received so far from the international community to buckets of water to help put out a fire, when what the country needs are fire trucks equipped with heavy-duty hoses.
Meanwhile, Holness said Jamaica stands ready to offer bilateral support if needed.
“Our real hope is that Haiti will soon overcome its challenges and embark on a path towards restoring stability, lasting peace and sustainable development for its land and its people with the full support of the international community,” he said.
A UN spokesman said the organization has not seen any formal offers, but countries can make offers directly to those leading the effort to establish a force.
Jamaica is a member of a regional trading bloc known as Caricom, which last week issued a statement urging “all interested parties to unite in its search for a consensus agreement” to resolve what it called a prolonged political stalemate in Haiti. Caricom added that it was prepared to hold a meeting in the Caribbean to discuss the issue.
Haiti was stripped of all democratically elected institutions when the terms of the remaining 10 senators expired in early January. Prime Minister Ariel Henry has promised to hold general elections for more than a year, but a provisional electoral council has yet to be elected, which some critics say has led to a de facto dictatorship.
Haiti has also been grappling with levels of violence not seen in decades, since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021 at his private home. Gangs are now believed to control 60 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
The number of reported kidnappings in Haiti rose to 1,359 last year, double the year before, while reported murders rose by a third to 2,183, according to the UN.
“These are really staggering numbers,” said Charles. “The situation in Haiti is extremely urgent.”
Haiti’s National Police has fewer than 9,000 active police officers for a country of more than 11 million people facing not only rising violence but also deepening poverty, widespread hunger and an outbreak of deadly cholera.
