US pledges $300m to aid Haiti

(CNN) — The United States will contribute $300 million to the Kenyan-led multinational security mission to Haiti, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday, as the situation on the ground continues to deteriorate.

“I’m announcing today that the United States Department of Defence is doubling its approved support for the mission from $100 million to $200 million. And that brings the total US support to $300 million for this effort,” Blinken said at the conclusion of a meeting of Caribbean states (CARICOM) in the Jamaican capital of Kingston.

It remains unclear when the security mission will be deployed.

Kenya’s Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said earlier Monday that Kenyan troops are currently in the “pre-deployment” stage.

It comes as a US worldwide threat assessment found that “gangs will be more likely to violently resist a foreign national force deployment to Haiti because they perceive it to be a shared threat to their control and operations.”

The assessment underscored the challenge likely in store for the multinational security support mission.

US officials have called for the acceleration of such a force to help stabilise the volatile situation on the ground, which has seen Haiti enter a state of emergency after its capital of Port-au-Prince plunged into violence amid highly coordinated gang attacks.

One gang leader, Jimmy Cherizier, has described it as an attempt to overthrow Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s government.

Cherizier has warned of “a civil war that will end in genocide” if the deeply unpopular leader does not step down.

Blinken travelled to Kingston to attend the high-level CARICOM meeting in a bid to find a solution to Haiti’s political crisis.

Talks are ongoing with the aim of establishing a transitional council in Haiti that could pave the way for elections in the country.

“We’re here in Kingston today to listen, to listen to your ideas, but also to provide our concrete support for the way forward and in particular, the joint proposal that was developed by CARICOM and all of the Haitian stakeholders to expedite a political transition,” Blinken said.

Blinken said the US supports “the plan to create a broad based, inclusive, independent presidential college” that would “take concrete steps to meet the immediate needs of Haitian people,” enable the “swift deployment” of the security support mission, and ultimately “create the security conditions that are necessary to hold free and fair elections, to allow humanitarian assistance to get the people who need it, and to help put Haiti back on a path to economic opportunity and growth.”

The top US diplomat also announced $33 million in “additional humanitarian assistance for the people of Haiti.” Blinken had previously announced, in Rio de Janeiro, that the US intended to provide $200 million to the multinational security support mission.

On Monday, Haiti’s government said it had extended a curfew in the country’s West region “to restore order and take appropriate measures to regain control of the situation.”

The curfew will now be in effect from Monday night to Thursday morning.

The government says the police have been authorised to use “all legal means at their disposal to enforce the curfew and apprehend all offenders.”