US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that the international community is continuing to explore the possibility of sending a force to Haiti, a gang-ridden country, and that the issue will be raised during President Joe Biden’s visit to Canada.
“There are discussions in the United Nations about some kind of multinational force, a discussion in which we are actively involved‘ Antony Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“The President will visit Canada tonight [23 mars]where we will continue these discussions with the Canadian government to see what we could do together and with other countries, the Caricom (Caribbean) countries and the region to support this“, he said.
President Joe Biden travels to Canada on Thursday and Friday where he will hold talks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The idea of a multinational police or security force to help Haiti, devastated by a political, security and economic crisis, has been discussed for months but has not materialized. It had already been mentioned last autumn with the urgency of the time.
The United States has indicated that it is willing to support such a force, but not to lead it.
Sending in a foreign force brings back painful memories for Haitians. The country has already received American, French or Canadian troops and UN missions – one of which brought cholera which caused an epidemic that killed more than 10,000 people.
About 530 people have been killed, many by snipers, and nearly 280 kidnapped by gangs rampaging through Haiti with impunity, the UN said Tuesday, calling for the deployment of a specialized backup force.
Almost half of Haitia’s population, or 4.9 million people, are struggling to feed themselves, the World Food Program (WFP) warned Thursday.
Incurable food practitioner. Tv lover. Award-winning social media maven. Internet guru. Travel aficionado.
;Composite=(type=URL,url=https://images.radio-canada.ca/v1/assets/elements/16x9/outdated-content-2013.png),gravity=SouthEast,placement=Over,location=(0,0),scale=1)
