Jamaican soldiers and police arrive in Haiti to help fight gangs

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Two dozen soldiers and police officers from Jamaica arrived in Haiti on Thursday to join a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenya to fight powerful gangs.

Jamaica is the second country to join the mission, which was approved by the U.N. Security Council in October 2023 and began when the first contingent of Kenyan police arrived in Haiti in late June. Joining the Jamaicans were two senior military officers from the Central American country of Belize, according to its government.

The U.S. Coast Guard told The Associated Press that one of its planes transported the Jamaicans and Belizeans to Haiti.

Earlier this week, authorities in Jamaica announced the imminent deployment and said the 20 soldiers and four police officers would be responsible for providing command, planning and logistics support.

They will work alongside Haiti’s military and police to fight gangs that control 80% of the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Jamaica had pledged a total of 170 soldiers and 30 police officers, but Prime Minister Andrew Holness said it wasn’t possible to deploy them all at once.

The Jamaicans were deployed as the U.S. warns that the Kenyan-led mission lacks resources, and says that it is considering a U.N. peacekeeping mission as one way to secure more money and personnel.

The U.S. and Ecuador recently circulated a draft resolution asking the U.N. to start planning for a U.N. peacekeeping operation to replace the current mission. But experts have said it’s unlikely the U.N. Security Council would approve it.

The current mission is expected to have a total of 2,500 personnel, with the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad also pledging to send police and soldiers, although it wasn’t clear when that would happen.