On Tuesday, September 10, 2024, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that his Government would deploy 24 military and police personnel to Haiti on Thursday, September 12, to assist the Mission and establish the command structure for the deployment of the bulk of Jamaican forces.

"This is the beginning of what we intend to do," Holness said. "We want the operation to be a great success. The operation must not be flawed because of a failure of planning."

Let's recall that on August 3rd, 2024, Jamaica officially committed to providing 200 men to the UN-supported mission https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40181-haiti-flash-jamaica-ready-to-send-200-men-to-haiti.html

Currently the Mission is led by Kenya, which is so far the only country to have deployed 400 officers to Haiti, out of a total of 1,000 promised.

In addition to Jamaica (200 men), the Bahamas (150 men) and Belize (50 men), these 3 countries should, according to the statements of Godfrey Otunge, Kenyan Commander of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MMSS), "send their advance contingents before the end of this month" [September] https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-43157-haiti-flash-kenyan-commander-announces-arrival-of-contingents-from-3-other-countries.html

Once the deployments are complete, the participation of these 3 regional countries would double the number of officers of the Mission, bringing its total strength to 800 men.

Rear Admiral Antonette Wemyss-Gorman, Chief of Staff of the Jamaican Defence Force, said the Jamaican deployment would be under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Kevron W. Henry, who will act as Deputy Commander to Kenyan Commander Godfrey Otunge.

Other countries have pledged troops (within an unknown time frame) to bring the Mission's strength to at least 2,500.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-43157-haiti-flash-kenyan-commander-announces-arrival-of-contingents-from-3-other-countries.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40181-haiti-flash-jamaica-ready-to-send-200-men-to-haiti.html

SL/ HaitiLibre