Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced on Tuesday morning that Jamaica will begin its participation in the multi-national security operation in Haiti with the deployment of 24 members of its own security forces.
This initial deployment will comprise 20 soldiers of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) and four police officers, who will depart the island on Thursday.
They will be under the command of Jamaica’s Colonel Kevron Henry, who will also be second in command of the overall multi-national contingent, according to the country’s Chief of Defence Staff Vice Admiral (VAdm) Antonette Wemyss-Gorman.
Several hundred Kenyan security personnel are already in Haiti as they spearhead of the Multi-National Support Mission, under the mandate of the United Nations, in an effort to restore civil order to that country.
Over the last year, heavily armed gangs have taken control of large portions of the country’s capital, Port au Prince, displacing thousands of residents and causing the resignation of the interim government that was set up following the assassination of the country’s last elected president, Jovenel Moise, on March 7, 2021.