NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC – The head of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF), Commodore Raymond King, says recruitment efforts are being hampered by plans to send officers to Haiti as recruits are opting to join other law enforcement agencies instead.

“What we’ve realized, particularly with this recruitment exercise that is pending, we would have lost several candidates who decided to move to the other armed forces because when the conversation comes now to being deployed to Haiti, it’s a reality check for several persons in terms of do I want to make the ultimate sacrifice in joining the Royal Bahamas Defence Force,” he told a news conference.

The Bahamas is among Caribbean Community (CARICCOM) countries that have signaled their intention to be part of a United Nations Security Council-approved a year-long multinational security mission to Haiti.

The multinational force will be laid by Kenya as the international community seeks to restore peace and stability in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country where criminal gangs have been engaged in kidnappings, rape, and murders since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

In addition, the opposition political parties have been calling for fresh elections, staging street demonstrations to force the government of Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry to name the date for the polls.

Commodore King told reporters that the training for the 150 officers selected for the mission has evolved to deal with Haiti’s growing challenges. He said a year ago, countering criminal gangs in Haiti was the objective, so initial training strictly focused on infantry optics in an urban setting.

“When I speak of it changing, the criminal gangs are now blocking humanitarian aid from getting to those who need it most,” he said, adding they are obstructing ports, preventing supplies and other much-needed goods from being cleared and shipped.

“In addition to the fuel, they are now creating obstructions for all of the major infrastructure in Haiti. Critical infrastructure includes electricity supply, communications, and all required amenities society needs.”

The RBDF official said he has yet to receive explicit instructions regarding the RBDF’s role or functions in Haiti.

“We have received our warning order from the Prime Minister (Phillip Davis) that we will deploy, but we have yet to receive instructions explicitly in terms of the role or functions,” he said, adding, “I am providing that expert advice to the honorable minister of national security as well as the prime minister, in terms of the risk, the vulnerabilities and my expert opinion.”

But he said the RBDF would send three platoons of 50 people to Haiti, with officers spending four months there.

“Those persons have been selected from all the Royal Bahamas Defence Force’s main branches: intelligence, administration, operations, planning, and communications.

“You need persons from all these disciplines, including interpreters, persons from our welfare unit, or chaplaincy office, and so those persons who would have been deliberately selected,” he said, noting that US special operations observers are also observing RBDF training exercises.

“We reached out to Central America and South American counterparts, Chile and Argentina, who have peacekeeping centers of excellence, and we would send persons as instructors to be trained,” he said.

King said Jamaica has offered to be a site for crucial training “to ensure that everyone is operating at a common rules of engagement, use of force, common doctrine, language, and everything.”

He said the RBDF has experience in peacekeeping missions, referencing a UN Peacekeeping mission to Haiti in 1994-1995.

“We’re fortunate that most of those young officers and marines who were a part of that peacekeeping mission are the planners today who are now preparing this next group to go into Haiti.

“So we must have the experience and professional development,” he added.