US looks to expedite Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US on Monday said it is looking to expedite the deployment of the Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti as Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Jamaica to address political and security crisis in Haiti.

“Secretary spoke to the president of Kenya on Friday to discuss the deployment of the MSS (Multinational Security Support mission). And we continue to look to expedite that mission as soon as possible,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

Miller said in a separate statement that Blinken will attend the High-Level Meeting on Haiti convened by the Conference of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Kingston, Jamaica on Monday.

“The Secretary will discuss the proposal developed in partnership with CARICOM and Haitian stakeholders to expedite a political transition in Haiti through the creation of a broad-based, independent presidential college as well as the deployment of a Multinational Security Support Mission to address the ongoing security crisis,” he said.

“The Secretary will also meet with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness to discuss bilateral and regional issues and reaffirm our strong and enduring ties with Jamaica,” he added.

Haiti’s government extended on Thursday the nighttime curfew and state of emergency in the capital of Port-au-Prince for a month amid a wave of violence unleashed by armed groups.

On the US evacuating its embassy personnel from Haiti amid increasing gang violence, Miller said the US has ordered the departure status since last July.

“There have been embassy personnel that have left at different times and at times, we have moved additional personnel,” Miller said

“And so we had a number of embassy personnel that left over the weekend. We had additional security forces that deployed to the mission because of the security situation there,” he said, adding that the US will continue to assess the situation.