Canada 'carefully considering' pleas for help from Haiti
Gang blockade of fuel terminals, shortages, high crime and cholera outbreak is being faced by the Caribbean country. A high-ranking Haitian diplomat has called on Canada and the United States to form a strike force to confront gangs creating a humanitarian crisis as Haiti rapidly spirals into chaos. Haiti's ambassador asked the countries should take the lead in confronting Haitian gangs that have blocked access to a key fuel terminal.
Bocchit Edmond said in reference to provide security assistance that we wish to see our neighbours like the United States, like Canada, take the lead. There is a really big threat over the head of the prime minister Ariel Henry and there is a risk of another head of state [being] killed in Haiti.
Acute shortages of gasoline and diesel have crippled transportation and forced businesses and hospitals to halt operations and cholera has killed at least 18 people, it is getting widespread in the country day by day.
Demonstrators have blocked roads in the capital. The prime minister announced in early September that his administration could no longer afford to subsidize fuel to the main cities to demand Henry's resignation and protest rising fuel prices.
Banks and grocery stores are operating on a limited schedule and gas stations and schools remain shuttered. Gun battles between gangs and police have become increasingly common and to control gangs that have been blocking the Varreux fuel terminal since last month, Henry last week asked the international community to provide a specialized armed force and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has proposed that one or several countries send a rapid action force to help Haiti's police.
Global Affairs Canada said it was extremely concerned about the impact of armed gang activity that has reached and Canada's foreign ministry said 19 member countries of the Organization of American States were committed to helping Haitians.
The United States on Wednesday said it will boost support for the Haitian police and the State Department has also created a new visa restriction targeting those who support the gangs and they are working to increase and deploy in the coming days security assistance to the Haitian National Police to strengthen their capacity to counter gangs.
Haitian-born sociologist at McGill University in Montreal, said it's not Canada's place to decide what should be done and he said Canada has attempted to lend legitimacy to Henry's rule.
There are only 10 senators remaining in government who were elected out of 149 members of parliament and opponents claim Henry hopes to use foreign troops to keep himself in power and he has failed to set a date for elections, which have not been held since November 2016.
Many Haitians are unhappy with the idea of a foreign force and Haitian senators signed a document demanding that Henry's "de facto government" defer its request for deployment of foreign troops and many local leaders reject the idea of UN peacekeepers and the cholera epidemic that killed nearly 10,000 people during a 13-year mission in Haiti that ended five years ago.
The foreign troops are not going to solve the major problems and the letter that the UN secretary general submitted Sunday suggests that the rapid action force be phased out as Haitian police regain control of infrastructure.
