Haiti Senate against the request for international forces on the island
Key Points(4)
- The Haiti Senate has approved a resolution urging Prime Minister Dr.
- Ariel Henry to postpone his request for international partners to deploy specialized armed forces to stop the crisis across the country caused partly by the criminal actions of armed gangs.
- In the resolution, adopted over the last weekend, the Assembly of Senators says it “requests the de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry to immediately suspend the execution of the resolution of October 7, 2022”.
- Guterres said the force would address the humanitarian crisis, including securing the free movement of water, fuel, food and medical supplies from main ports and airports to communities and health care facilities.
The Haiti Senate has approved a resolution urging Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry to postpone his request for international partners to deploy specialized armed forces to stop the crisis across the country caused partly by the criminal actions of armed gangs.
In the resolution, adopted over the last weekend, the Assembly of Senators says it “requests the de facto Prime Minister Ariel Henry to immediately suspend the execution of the resolution of October 7, 2022”.
The Council of Ministers had on October 7, authorized Prime Minister Henry to “request and obtain from Haiti’s international partners effective support through the immediate deployment of a specialized armed force, in sufficient quantity to stop, throughout the territory, the humanitarian crisis caused, among other things, by the insecurity resulting from the criminal actions of armed gangs and their sponsors”.
Since January, the Senate because of consistent postponements of Haiti’s legislative elections resulted in the 30-seat body being reduced to a third, and eight legislators last weekend adopted the resolution that also asks the “political, economic and social forces to grant the benefit of urgency to the discussions in progress in order to reach a sufficient consensus for a lasting exit from the crisis”.
The senators are also urging the Protector of the Citizen “to request the expertise of the main organizations working in the human rights sector in order to obtain, as of now, humanitarian corridors which guarantee the exit of fuel from the terminals” as well as calling on Prime Minister Henry “to grant a reprieve to the implementation of the new fuel prices at the pump” so as to assist the poorest in the nation.
The senators said they will be submitting the resolution “to the Executive for the purposes of promulgation and publication in the Official Journal of the Republic, Le Moniteur.”
On Sunday, the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres urged the international community, including the UN Security Council, to consider “as of matter of urgency” the request by the Haitian government for the immediate deployment of an international specialized armed force in the French-speaking Caribbean country.
Guterres said the force would address the humanitarian crisis, including securing the free movement of water, fuel, food and medical supplies from main ports and airports to communities and health care facilities.
CMC/
