The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

A ROYAL Bahamas Defence Force team will soon visit Jamaica to prepare for possible deployment to Haiti, according to Defence Force Commodore Raymond King.

He said the officers will go to Jamaica for three weeks for integrated training involving other Caribbean countries committed to deploying persons to Haiti.

“We’ll bring in our partners from South America, the Argentinians and Chileans, who would provide Train the Trainer PKO training for a certain number of our instructors so we can continue to build internal capacity,” Commodore King said.

“The government has indicated its inclination towards the maritime security posture, which is what we naturally do, but Kenya and the Republic of Haiti, I think they are in the process of signing off on an agreement which will enable the Kenyans to deploy their police officers. But Kenya is preparing to send its initial team of some 200 persons into Haiti as a part of the advance team.”

The United Nations Security Council approved a year-long multi-national security mission to Haiti in October.

However, a Kenyan court blocked the country from deploying police officers to Haiti. Kenya’s government said it would appeal the matter.