OTTAWA, Canada, CMC – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has joined his Barbadian counterpart, Mia Mottley, in expressing their “deep concern” over the increasing gang violence and turbulence now being experienced in Haiti.
A government statement said that Trudeau spoke to Mottley about the “ recent developments” in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
“They agreed on the urgency of deploying the United Nations-authorized Multinational Security Support mission to advance efforts from the Haitian National Police to improve security conditions for civilians,” the statement said.
“Prime Minister Trudeau expressed his appreciation for Barbados’ commitment to contributing security personnel to the mission and underscored that Canada remains committed to working with Barbados, Kenya, and other partners to support a successful mission,” the statement added.
The statement said the prime ministers also discussed the “important role” of the CARICOM “to promote inclusive political dialogue in support of a Haitian-led solution to the crisis.
“The leaders reiterated the critical need to reach an inclusive political consensus to create the conditions for free and fair general elections and the restoration of democratic order in Haiti,” the statement said.
It said that Trudeau and Mottley also reaffirmed “the strong bond” between Canada and Barbados and agreed to remain in contact “as the situation in Haiti continues to evolve.”
On Thursday, the leader of the so-called peaceful “revolution,” Guy Philippe, called for unity among all Haitians after declaring that the move to oust the “illegitimate and blood-thirsty government” of Prime Minister Dr. Ariel Henry had been successful.
“To all those who have been illegally and unjustly arrested and detained because they demand change in their country; to all those who have been injured and hospitalized as a result of the actions of the blood-thirsty government, which unleashed its assassins with a mission to massacre, to kill…, I ask you to hold on,” said Philippe in a statement.
However, in a statement on Thursday, the Haitian Government said it would extend a state of emergency in its Ouest Department, the seat of the capital city, for another month as it seeks to regain control of the troubled country.
A declaration published in the official Gazette said the state of emergency would extend until April 3, with a nightly curfew until March 11, and that this was done to “reestablish order and take appropriate measures to retake control of the situation.”
The Haitian Government had first announced the state of emergency and curfew on Sunday evening, as fighting escalated and the criminal gangs allowed for thousands of inmates to be freed from two of the central prisons.
Prime Minister Henry remains stranded in Puerto Rico after traveling first to Guyana to attend the CARICOM summit and then to Kenya, where he signed an agreement allowing the UN Security Council-sanctioned international force led by the African country to restore peace and security in Haiti.
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