Haitian crisis among areas of collaboration between US & Guyana at UNSC – Secretary Blinken

…Guyana’s UNSC team to meet stakeholders in Washington – Pres Ali

By Vahnu Manikchand

With Guyana’s recent election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken has disclosed that the ongoing Haiti crisis is one of the areas that the two countries will have to collaborate on at the level of the UNSC.
Secretary Blinken was in Georgetown on Thursday, and held discussions with the Guyana Government.
In remarks following that meeting at State House, the US Secretary of State lauded Guyana for its leadership role not only in the Caribbean region but internationally, especially with its UNSC membership.
Last month, Guyana was one of five countries elected as non-permanent members for the 2024-2025 term at the Security Council – an organ of the United Nations that has primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.
Asked about the potential areas of collaboration between Guyana and the US at the UNSC, Secretary Blinken revealed that the situation in Haiti was a topic that was discussed between the two sides at Thursday’s high-level engagement.
“Haiti is certainly one area of, I think, potential and important collaboration with Guyana on the Security Council, precisely because it’s going to be very important to have the endorsement of the United Nations for any force that goes in to support the Police to create a more secure environment. So that’s one of the areas that we actually talked about today,” he noted.
But the US official noted that this would be an ongoing conversation between the two nations as his country is invested in learning from the Guyana Government their thoughts and their agenda for its tenure on the Security Council.

Global peace and security
Meanwhile, President Ali reiterated Guyana’s commitment to global peace and security. He noted that there were many security challenges the world was currently facing such as the Haiti crisis and the Russia-Ukraine war, and so Guyana’s UNSC representatives will soon be meeting to iron out the country’s agenda.
“These are things that we will elaborate in much greater details. Very soon, our team that will be working at the Security Council will be meeting with our stakeholders in Washington and other stakeholders to further define and to prioritise action, because there are so many challenges. But we have to prioritise the actions that are critical today and the issues that are critical and must be addressed as we confront these challenges,” the Head of State noted.
With regard to the Haiti crisis, President Ali disclosed that this matter took up a substantial part of the recently-held Caribbean Community (Caricom) Heads of Government meeting in Trinidad and Tobago earlier this week. Battered by a series of natural disasters over the years, the Caribbean nation has been experiencing an escalated economic and social crisis that has led to mass violence and food shortages.
President Ali noted that in addressing this issue, there were three critical areas that needed to be focused on –the security issue, the humanitarian issue, and the political issue. The President pointed out that there was a commitment at the regional level to working on establishing a line of control in Haiti that would allow humanitarian aid to get into the country and reach the people.
According to Ali, one of the decisions taken at the conference, which was attended by several global leaders including Secretary Blinken, is that the eminent group comprising former regional Prime Ministers – Kenny Anthony and Bruce Golding –would continue to work with the leadership and various stakeholders in Haiti to come up with broadened representation in Government.
The Guyanese Leader further noted that current Haitian Prime Minister, Dr Ariel Henry, who has already indicated that he would not run in any future elections, has committed to broadening efforts towards a transitional government in his country.
Among the global leaders at the Caricom meeting this week was Rwandan President Paul Kagame, and according to President Ali, both Rwanda and Kenya have committed to assisting with efforts to resolve the crisis in Haiti.
“Kenya and Rwanda would have jointly committed to putting together some form of troop to support the Haitian Police and to have a presence.  Now, that has to be financed, and that has to come through a mechanism through the UN. And this is where we now have to focus our work: how we get a UN resolution and how this mechanism is developed,” the Guyanese Head of State noted.
Moreover, Secretary Blinken also spoke on security efforts in Haiti. He noted that while time, resources and efforts have been expended to strengthen and build up the Haitian National Police, this has proven to be insufficient.
“As you heard from leadership in Haiti, as you heard from the Haitian people, as you heard from the Secretary General of the United Nations, as you heard from the OAS, there is a consensus on the need for some kind of multinational force to support the work of the Police to try to create some space and a more secure climate so that the work that we’re doing to strengthen the Police, to strengthen security services in Haiti has time to take hold, and the government can regain control of the country and not have it dominated, as it is in so many parts, by gangs,” the US official noted.
Nevertheless, the Secretary of State pointed out that the US was in very active conversation with countries, both in the Region and beyond, about such a course as well as with the UN. This, he noted, will require a particular country playing a leading-nation role.
“That’s something, again, we’re very actively engaged in and so is the Haitian Government. So, what I can say to you today is it’s very much part of the conversation at Caricom [on Wednesday], very much part of the conversation that I had with Prime Minister Henry, and a focus of our work. And we are seized with the urgency of moving this forward,” Blinken stressed.