BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) – Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders will meet in Jamaica next Monday to discuss the ongoing political and socio-economic situation in Haiti, well placed sources told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Friday.

“Yes, a meeting is taking place, heads will be there along with representatives from the international community,” the sources said.

But asked whether Haitian Prime Minister Dr Ariel Henry, who has been stranded in Puerto Rico, will be in attendance, the sources replied “we are not aware of that,” reiterating that the meeting will be attended by Haiti’s international partners.

The sources also indicated that not all the Caricom leaders are likely to be attending the meeting, but probably the “members of the extended Bureau” of Caricom.

The Bureau consists of the current chairman, Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali, the Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell as well as his Dominican counterpart, Roosevelt Skerrit.

“I can also confirm that the United Nations has been invited to attend the meeting organised by Caricom which will take place on Monday,” said UN spokesman Jeremy Laurence, noting that a number of international partners will be in attendance to encourage support for the restoration of democratic institutions in Haiti in the shortest possible time.

At the end of their summit in Guyana last week that was dominated by the unfolding situation in Haiti, the regional leaders had signalled their intention to meet soon on Haiti.

President Ali had said then that the issue of Haiti was a “very difficult task,” as he recognised the work Jamaica has been doing in coordinating efforts, saying “you have to understand the situation in Haiti”.

He said the prime ministers involved would have to agree to postpone or re-organise their schedules “but this is of such importance to the region and the region has to provide the leadership on this issue”.

Henry, who came to power following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021, has been in Puerto Rico since earlier this week, unable to enter his country after having travelled from Kenya where he signed an agreement allowing for a United Nations Security Council sanctioned international force led by the African country to restore peace and security in his troubled country.

But the criminal gangs that have all, but taken over the capital, Port au Prince, said a new government would soon be installed with a judge, Durin Duret Jr, as chairman assisted by former rebel leader and former police commissioner Guy Philippe, and Francoise Saint-Vil Villier, from the religious sector.

“PM Henry and all the other members of the government must resign or they will face the consequences,” the outspoken and leftist political leader, Jean-Charles Moise told journalists.

However, the Haitian government in a statement on Thursday said it would extend a state of emergency in its Ouest Department, the seat of the capital city, for another month as it seeks to regain control of the troubled French-speaking Caricom country.

A declaration published in the official Gazette said the state of emergency would extend until April 3, with a nightly curfew until March 11 and that this was in order to “reestablish order and take appropriate measures to retake control of the situation.”

The authorities had first announced the state of emergency and curfew on Sunday evening as fighting escalated and the criminal gangs allowed for thousands of inmates to be freed from two of the main prisons here.