The US pledges another $130 million to restore order in Haiti

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken announced this on Monday that the United States would provide another $100 million in aid to a United Nations-backed multinational security mission planned to deploy to Haiti, which is engulfed by gang violence.

He also pledged an additional $33 million in humanitarian aid, bringing U.S. pledges to $333 million.

“We can help. We can help restore a foundation of security,” Mr. Blinken said at a meeting of regional leaders in Kingston, Jamaica. “Only the Haitian people can do that, and only the Haitian people should determine their own future , and no one else.”

The promise of further U.S. aid was the highlight of a meeting that appeared to make little progress toward reaching a political solution as unrest in Haiti’s capital has surged in the past two weeks.

Haiti Prime Minister Ariel Henry left for Kenya in early March to finalize an agreement for the multinational force, led by the East African nation, to deploy and tackle the gangs. Since then, Mr Henry has been stranded outside his country as gang members wreak havoc and demand his resignation.

So far, the prime minister has refused to resign, even as pressure grows both at home and abroad for him to resign. Mr. Henry, who was in Puerto Rico, did not attend Monday’s meeting and it was unclear whether he had participated in the discussion remotely.

Leaders from Caribbean countries are leading the effort to create a transitional council, intended to pave the way for the election of a new president and help restore stability in Haiti.

Jamaican officials said a proposal for Haiti was still being prepared and discussions were continuing, but no plan had been finalized as of Monday.

With the government on the brink of collapse, the United States and Caribbean countries are working on a resolution that would restore some order to the troubled country.

Mr. Blinken said the Defense Department would double approved support for the mission from $100 million to $200 million, bringing total U.S. support to $300 million. He also announced an additional $33 million in humanitarian assistance to support healthcare and food security.

After months of delays, Haiti and Kenya signed an agreement this month to move forward with the deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police officers to the Caribbean country. Kenya’s President William Ruto said his country has a “historic obligation” to continue because “peace in Haiti is good for the world as a whole.”

Kenyan Home Affairs Minister Kithure Kindiki announced on Monday that the mission was in the “pre-deployment phase” and that all other programs and enforcement measures related to the deployment were already in place.

However, so far there is no clear timetable for when the multinational force will be deployed.

“We are deeply saddened that it is already too late for too many people who have lost far too much at the hands of criminal gangs,” said Andrew Holness, Prime Minister of Jamaica. “The fear that the situation in Haiti will worsen into a civil war is now real. We all agree that this should not happen, not in our hemisphere.”

Haiti is in the grip of an uprising on a scale not seen in decades. With the escalation of violence, gang attacks on police stations and even coordinated attacks on two prisons, Haitians have faced a humanitarian disaster as access to food, water and health care has been severely curtailed.

US forces evacuated non-essential US citizens from the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince and added more security personnel over the weekend, according to a statement from the Defense Department’s Southern Command. It said no Haitians were involved in the airlift.