The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS 

Tribune Staff Reporter 

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell said Cabinet has approved resuming the country’s diplomatic presence in Haiti. 

Bahamian diplomats in Haiti were evacuated in March when security conditions deteriorated amid gang violence. The Bahamian embassy in Haiti has 11 local staff and nine diplomatic staff members, including Chargé Commander Godfrey Rolle.

Mr Rolle said the local staff are at the embassy, but diplomatic duties are at a standstill. 

Mr Mitchell told reporters yesterday that the owner of the building housing the Bahamian embassy wants to sell the structure, so officials are looking for new premises.

He said: “Defence Force offices are part of the security detail for the diplomatic mission in Haiti, and so they go in advance to reconnoitre and decide on a place. Then the diplomats will return.”

Kenyan officers recently arrived in Haiti to begin the multinational security mission to stabilise that country.

Mr Mitchell could not say when Defence Force officers would join that mission.

“The Kenyans are just now on the ground. They are the ones who are in operational control and command so, the question of what the mission is, and the specifics of it would have to be left to them and the relationship between the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the Kenyans and, of course, the Haitian government,” he said.

The United Nations backed the Kenyan-led mission. Mr Mitchell said the resolution allowing it has been extended to next year.

“That means we still have the legal cover for everything, but at the moment, it’s a diplomatic mission, and then we’ll know operationally what happens with the Defence Force,” he said.

The Davis administration has committed to sending 150 Defence Force officers to join a multinational team to help stabilise Haiti. National Security Minister Wayne Munroe has said the officers will help with maritime security.