The security forces remain on standby as Barbados awaits formal approval from Haiti’s newly installed transitional council before joining a multinational peacekeeping mission to the strife-torn country.Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds said on Friday that the Barbadian contingent must hold off until an official request is received. “No formal request has as yet been received from the new administration. As indicated previously, we cannot do anything until requested,” Symmonds told Barbados TODAY.“Barbados has expressed its intention to participate under the umbrella of the CARICOM sub-regional security system, once approval is given for that service to be deployed. That continues to be our intention. However, the Regional Security System (RSS) is intended, if it is mobilised, to form part of the wider multinational security force, if and when that larger multinational force is eventually deployed.”Last month, he had said a security contingent was prepared to collaborate in restoring law and order in Haiti, where gangs have taken control amid the absence of a functioning government.Haiti recently ushered in a new political chapter with the establishment of a transitional council tasked with appointing a prime minister and preparing for eventual presidential elections, in hopes of quelling the spiralling gang violence that has claimed thousands of lives.
