DOMINICA-SECURITY-Prime Minister Skerrit says talks should be held with Haitian gang leaders

ROSEAU, Dominica, May 26, CMC – Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit Monday said talks should be held with the gang leaders in Haiti as efforts continue to end the security and political crisis in the French-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

Haiti has been plagued with violent gang activities ever since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated at his private residence on July 7, 2021.

Kenya has deployed a multinational security support (MSS) mission to Haiti after the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution in support of the initiative to combat gang violence and restore order.

The mission, which began in June 2024, involves at least 800 Kenyan police officers, initially deployed as part of a planned 2,500-person force.  The force’s mandate is to support the Haitian National Police in combating the violence and restoring security in the country, where gangs have seized control of much of the capital and other areas.

Speaking at a news conference here, Prime Minister Skerrit told reporters he had advocated the need to engage the gang leaders in discussions in finding a peaceful solution to the crisis in Haiti, where the United Nations and other organisations have said thousands of people have been killed or displaced.

“We should have had a conversation on Haiti. The gangs in Haiti are too crucial a player for you not to engage them. And if you don’t engage people, you leave them to their own devices,’ said Skerrit, aware of the role being played by CARICOM in seeking a peaceful resolution in the member states.

“Sanctions are not going to change the attitude of any gang leader or gang member in Haiti. I believe and I went ahead, because I was chairman of  CARICOM then, I went ahead and I spoke to Norway, because Norway had played a very crucial role in facilitating discussions and negotiations in the government of  Colombia and FARC”.

Skerrit said FARC, the (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army),  a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group, had been designated a terrorist group, and you have people who were part of FARC in Parliament…part of the government in Colombia.

“I understand that people do not want to engage and so on, but they are part of the society. We do not hate them, we hate their behaviour and their actions…and how do we get them to curtail or to change their behaviour and actions?

“To leave these guys to their own devices and sending drones to try and kill them and so on, all you’re going to have is getting the situation worse,” Skerrit said with regards to Haitian gangs, whom he described as “a crucial part of Haiti.

“I am not Haitian, I am not part of the Haitian government, I can only suggest…But if there is a problem, we have to talk,” he said, recalling that the current President of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, “has a 10 million US dollar bounty on his head a few months ago and a few weeks ago he met the President of the United States (Donald Trump).

“Let us understand that unless you have a discussion with the gangs in Haiti, if you leave them to their own devices, they become their own government in the ghettos, they provide services that the state cannot provide…so what do you have. You have a de facto government. Law and order cannot be maintained.

Skerrit said he still  believes “it is not too late” to engage the gangs in Haiti, adding we cannot set aside anybody in terms of finding a solution for peace, because without peace in Haiti, without law and order in Haiti, there is no future for Haiti.”

Skerrit said that if, after consultations with the gang leaders,  they do not want to be part of the normal society,y “then you go after them, you eliminate them. It is as simple as that.

“We allow them to change their ways. This is my personal view on the Haitian situation. This is not a CARICOM position, and you know me, I don’t impose my views on people, I share my views,” Skerrit said, telling reporters that the Norwegian government was prepared  “to provide the resources and the framework for this.

“I was prepared myself, I told them I was prepared to go to Haiti and be part of the discussions with the gangs,”  Skerrit told reporters.

CMC/pr/ir/2025