Haiti’s military needs foreign assistance in light of the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, according to the island nation’s top diplomat to the United States.
“It’s very important to give us the means for the armed forces to control the border,” Haitian Ambassador Bocchit Edmond told reporters hours after the president’s murder overnight. “But unfortunately, we’ve been facing resistance when it comes to the national armed forces.”
Moise’s death leaves the outgoing prime minister as the acting head of government at a time when political officials with electoral legitimacy are few and far between. His murder is being described in some quarters as an attack by rival political factions.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s administration has pledged to aid the remaining government while urging officials to proceed with the 2021 elections.
“What we know and what we will continue to do is to preserve Haiti’s democratic institutions,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. “We know that by preserving Haiti’s democratic institutions — that is key to restoring peace.”
BIDEN: HAITIAN PRESIDENT JOVENAL MOISE’S ASSASSINATION ‘VERY WORRISOME’
U.S. and Haitian officials announced an agreement in January allocating $75.5 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development to support an array of Haitian social and economic sectors, Price recalled, noting USAID has been funding “pre-election activities.” The State Department spokesman put a spotlight on American support for the Haitian National Police, but that support has not enabled local authorities to withstand what the United Nations calls an “unprecedented level of violence” in Haiti, so the government wants additional equipment.
“We’ve been requesting that for the last six months,” Edmond said. “It’s very important to equip the national police and to lead that fight against the gangs so peace and security can be reestablished in Haiti, particularly the capital city, Port au Prince … the country, unfortunately, is infested with gangs.”
The envoy said he was making a similar request for the Haitian military, which has been viewed with suspicion by international observers and even clashed in a shootout with the police in 2020. Edmond anchored that call in his suspicion that the team of assassins who killed the president and wounded Haitian first lady Martine Moise had escaped across the border to the Dominican Republic.
“Therefore, it’s very important to have a very robust security system on our borders to protect the borders,” he said. “The National Police itself cannot guarantee the full security of the country.”
U.S. officials have been wary of supporting the Haitian military, which was disbanded in 1995 to shake a bleak tradition of repression that took place under a dictatorship that ruled in Haiti from 1957 to 1986. The murdered president reconstituted the military in 2017 after the withdrawal of a United Nations peacekeeping force that had been stationed in Haiti since 2004.
“It’s time to stop stigmatizing the armed forces,” the ambassador said.
Moise was controversial before his death, partly due to corruption allegations and his desire to hold a referendum on a draft constitution that would allow him to seek reelection. He announced the appointment of a new prime minister this week, but incoming officials had not yet taken office when the president was killed. Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph announced the emergency closure of the national airport.
“We most vehemently deplore this attempt to undermine the institutional stability of the country,” said Organization of American States Secretary-General Luis Almagro’s office Wednesday. “Disagreement and dissent are part of a strong and vigorous system of government. Political assassinations have no place in a democracy. We call for an end to a form of politics that threatens to derail democratic advances and the future of the country.”
Edmond, the Haitian ambassador, demurred when asked if the government would consider requesting a U.S. military intervention to maintain security.
“It is not a decision for me to make,” he said. “It’s between authorities, the U.S. authorities, and the Haitian authorities to discuss and to assess the situation and see where they want to help, how they can help.”
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Price avoided giving a preview of the Biden administration’s view of that question.
“Haiti is a partner, and that is how we will treat this relationship,” he said. “We would echo what we have heard from the acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph in his calls for calm, his calls for the Haitian people to work together to ensure peace, to ensure democratic government. The United States has and will continue to stand by to provide assistance to the Haitian people.”
