By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said Haiti’s deterioration, including the escape of thousands of criminals, shows why helping to stabilise that country is in the security interest of The Bahamas.

Some have criticised the Davis administration for committing 150 defence force officers to a multinational team to help stabilise Haiti.

But Mr Munroe noted yesterday that conditions in Haiti are worsening, with 4000 criminals recently freed from a prison there.

Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry has been locked out of his country and remains in Puerto Rico. Gangs vying for political power have demanded that he resign.

“From the deteriorating situation in Haiti, I think the Bahamian public realises why it is in our national security interest that we have peace in Haiti,” Mr Munroe said on Wednesday.

“After the prison outbreak, along with CARICOM, everyone is afraid these criminals will end up in The Bahamas. That is why we need peace in all the countries in this region. The Bahamas, with CARICOM, has committed to assisting in bringing the Haitian solution to their problem.”

Although Kenya has agreed to lead a multinational security force to Haiti, its plans have been stymied in court.

Mr Munroe said The Bahamas is committed to providing the Haitian Coast Guard maritime security training.

“We still hold to that commitment, and with the deteriorating situation in Haiti, you will need maritime security in terms of preventing inflows of contraband and outflows of migrants, and we are committed to that,” he said.

Mr Munroe said if a team is deployed, there would be rotations of 50 people onboard the HMBS Bahamas.

Earlier this week, Bahamasair, which flies to Cap-Haitien, suspended flights to Haiti. Haitian gangs have tried to take over the Port-au-Prince airport.

Yesterday, Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell reiterated that repatriation exercises to Haiti have not been suspended.

“Repatriation,” he said in the House of Assembly, “has not been suspended from our point of view, but if the airport is closed, how do you get people in? So that’s the practical reality of it. Secondly, whoever emerges as the government in Port-au-Prince, we have to deal with, de facto, whether they are good or evil, if we want this repatriation to continue. So we can’t take any sort of high-minded approach and ideological approach on any of these things because we want the repatriation to continue.”