Haitian government approves funding for ‘war budget’
PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti (CMC) – The Haitian Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) says it has approved US$275,000 towards dealing with the security crisis facing the French-speaking Caribbean Community (Caricom) country.
In a statement, the government said that the “war budget” will help the police and the military “to fight the armed groups that threaten national stability”.
It also said that nearly 20 per cent of the funding will go towards fortifying the border with the Dominican Republic
According to the TPC statement, funding will also be provided for social programmes as well as education, health and humanitarian assistance.
Last week, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said armed attacks in the past few weeks in the communes of Saut d’Eau and Mirebalais have displaced more than 30,000 people.
It added that the vast majority of them have remained in the department and together with other partners, they are providing assistance, including food, hygiene kits, safe water and psychosocial support.
Last Sunday, Caricom governments issued a strong condemnation of recent reports that criminal gangs in Haiti are threatening to overthrow the transitional government through violence.
In their statement, the leaders described the threats as “completely unacceptable” and warned that any attempt to forcibly change the governance structure in Haiti would only worsen the country’s already dire humanitarian situation.
The United States has since said that it supports the statement issued by Caricom and that Washington also “supports the efforts by the Kenya-led Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission and Caricom to assist the government in its efforts to bring peace and stability to Haiti in the face of armed criminal gangs.”
The United Nations (UN) Security Council in 2023 passed a resolution for the MSS aimed at combating gang violence and restoring stability in the country. Criminal gangs are seeking to take complete control of the capital Port au Prince, and have launched several attacks, killing women and children among others.
