The United Nations has announced an extraordinary session of the Security Council for Wednesday, 6 March 2024. The UN is backing the sending of a reduced security force to Haiti.
In Haiti the gangs that are in control have escalated violence and call for the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Henry, who had traveled abroad to attend the Caricom Summit and then to Kenya to meet with President William Ruto who has agreed to send 1,000 Police to Haiti.
It is now known that Henry is in Puerto Rico. Henry was not allowed to land in either Haiti or the Dominican Republic.
Amidst much speculation as to where Prime Minister Ariel Henry was, after attending the meetings abroad, on Wednesday, 5 March 2024, the local media Proceso had reported that Henry had traveled from Kenya to the New York area and was indeed attempting to return to Haiti on a chartered jet.
Proceso had reported at the time that the flight was denied permission to land in the Dominican Republic.
Listin Diario confirmed the chartered Gulfstream jet had not been authorized to land in the Dominican Republic nor at the Port-au-Prince International Airport.
In its 6 March issue, Listin Diario reports that Henry flew from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to San Juan, Puerto Rico on Tuesday, 5 March 2024. Henry would have left Kenya on Saturday, 2 March after meetings with Kenya President William Ruto on the troops Kenya is sending to Haiti. The Kenya mission, backed by the United Nations and financed mostly by the United States, would see Kenyan police work with the Haitian National Police to protect hospitals, schools, airports, and other key infrastructure from criminal gangs.
Hector Porella, executive director of the Dominican Civil Aviation Institute (IDAC) told CDN news in the Dominican Republic that the plane had entered Dominican airspace but did not have a flight plan to land here and then was redirected to land in Puerto Rico. Porcella said he believes the situation is being handled directly between the US and Haiti, as reported in Listin Diario.
Meanwhile, neither the Haitian press, the acting government in Haiti or international agencies have been able to get a statement from Henry. Henry has sought to create an international peacekeeping force as a first step to resolve the multidimensional crisis in Haiti.
Meanwhile, gangs in Haiti demand Henry end now his role as acting prime minister. When taking on the position, he had agreed to hold elections and leave the position in February 2024. There are no conditions to organize an election in Haiti.
The Dominican Republic has suspended authorizing flights from Haiti. The Civil Aviation Board (JAC) orderd the closing of air space for flights from and to Haiti.
Air transport has come to a halt in Haiti with the suspension of international and domestic flights due to attacks on Port-au-Prince International Airport as gangs tighten their grip and terrorize the entire metropolitan region, as observed by Le Nouvelliste on Monday, March 4, 2024.
In Haiti, the known head of armed gangs in Haiti, Jimmy Chérizier, alias Barbecue for his cruelty, demands the resignation of Ariel Henry. “If Ariel Henry does not resign, the country is heading directly towards genocide. If the international community continues to support Ariel Henry, we are heading directly towards a civil war that will end in genocide,” the former Haitian police officer has warned in recent statements to journalists.
In Haiti, Le Nouvelliste reports that the Biden administration will not deploy US troops to Haiti to assist its national police in addressing a rapidly evolving security crisis, according to a White House official, as reported in an article by the Miami Herald published Monday, March 4, 2024, in the evening.
Read more:
Diario Libre
Noticias SIN
Le Nouvelliste
Proceso
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
Hoy
Noticias SIN
Foreign Policy
Diario Libre
ABC News
Reuters
The Star Kenya
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
6 March 2024