By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said the future of the proposed multinational security mission to Haiti – which Royal Bahamas Defence Force officers have been preparing for months – is uncertain after Kenya halted its plans to lead the mission.

Kenya’s plan to lead the UN-authorised mission faced a significant hurdle in January when a top court ruled it unconstitutional. Now, after Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry said he would resign once a presidential council is created, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Koriri Sing’oei said on Tuesday that deploying officers to Haiti had been put on hold.

“There has been a fundamental change in circumstances in Haiti as a result of the complete breakdown of law and order,” he added. “There has to be an authority that can be the basis for a police deployment –– that enjoys constitutional authority in Haiti.”

Adding to the confusion, Kenya’s president, William Ruto, reaffirmed his country’s commitment to lead the mission yesterday, but said it would only do so when a transitional presidential council is formed in the Caribbean. That body will select an interim prime minister and a council of ministers to chart Haiti’s new course. Some political parties in Haiti have reportedly already rejected the plan. 

The Davis administration has committed to sending 150 Defence Force officers to a multinational team to stabilise Haiti.

Mr Munroe noted yesterday that The Bahamas would not send officers to help with maritime security as planned “if there is no mission on land”.

Acknowledging that the future of the Haitian mission is uncertain, he said: “It would also be fair to say, if and when the leader of this mission steps up, that does not mean that if they say we’re going today, that we say oh, we’re coming today. You still have to work out what are going to be the parameters of it, what is expected of us, the details that the professional persons would have to work out before we can say, yes, this is acceptable to us.”

 “Their position is if Prime Minister Henry is gone, there’s no recognisable government until the transitional government is put in place, and their police will have no one to answer to. That may end up being a short-time issue or longer-term issue.”

“For the moment, I got the impression that it was meant to be a shorter-term issue, and they were moving to have their transitional council consider the appointment of a replacement.”