Jamaican troops head to Haiti this week says PM Holness
A total of 24 Jamaican soldiers and police officers are headed to Haiti where they will eventually join up with local police and about 400 Kenyan colleagues as part of a multinational force battling heavily armed gangs disrupting life in the CARICOM member nation, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said Tuesday. Announcing the pre-deployment of 20 soldiers and four policemen, PM Holness said Jamaica had been ready for most of the past year to make its contribution to the security effort in Haiti, noting that “Jamaica has close fraternal ties to the people of Haiti and we stand in solidarity with them. Jamaica also has a national security interest in the situation in Haiti, one of our closest neighbors. Here in Jamaica we see the growing entrenchment of gangs who organize the production of armed violence with a view to economic gain, spreading terror in communities and weakening the state’s guarantee to citizens’ security,” he told reporters at a special briefing in the city. Police offi...