Jamaica to deploy a limited number of soldiers and police to help fight gangs in Haiti

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced Tuesday that his country would send two dozen soldiers and police officers to Haiti this week to boost a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenya to fight violent gangs.

The 20 soldiers and four police officers are scheduled to arrive Thursday and will join nearly 400 Kenyan police who arrived earlier this year and are working alongside Haitian police and military, said Vice Admiral Antonette Wemyss-Gorman, chief of defense staff for Jamaica’s military.

The Jamaicans will be responsible for providing command, planning and logistics support, Holness said at a news conference.

Jamaica had pledged a total of 170 soldiers and 30 police officers, but Holness said it wasn’t possible to deploy them all at once.

“It’s not practical,” he said, adding that facilities to host those arriving and a command structure need to be in place before the full number pledged is deployed. “We want a very successful operation.”

The initial number of police and soldiers announced by Holness surprised many and comes at a time when the U.S. government has warned that the Kenyan-led mission lacks money and personnel as it considers a U.N. peacekeeping mission as one way to secure more resources.

In recent days, the U.N. and Ecuador circulated a draft resolution obtained by The Associated Press asking the U.N. to start planning for a U.N. peacekeeping operation to replace the current mission. Such a proposal would have to be decided by the U.N. Security Council, which experts do not believe would approve it.

On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said “it’s very strange” that there is apparently no money available to support the Kenyan-led mission.

“I think countries should assume responsibilities and should come and provide the necessary funding,” he said.

Holness did not comment on the possibility of a U.N. peacekeeping mission but said the current mission “can be a long and extended process.”

He added that the mission is not the only or final solution to problems in Haiti, where gangs control 80% of the capital of Port-au-Prince.

The violence has spread to other areas across the country, with more than 3,200 killed from January to May, according to the U.N. The ongoing violence also has left more than half a million people homeless in recent years.

“Haiti is the example of what could happen if states and governments do not take the problem seriously and put in place the measures and resources necessary to bring the problem under control,” Holness said.

Overall, the mission is expected to have a total of 2,500 personnel, with the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad also pledging to send police and soldiers, although it wasn’t clear when that would happen.

On Saturday, the Bahamas' foreign affairs minister, Fred Mitchell, told reporters that while the government hasn't wavered in its pledge, it's unclear when it'll deploy troops to Haiti given that the mission's dynamics have changed.

“One of the things the Bahamas has to consider is the new position of the U.S.,” he said.

The mission is expected to cost roughly $600 million a year, although the U.N. has received only $68 million out of $85 million pledged so far. The U.S. and Canada have provided the majority of funds for now.

Police officers patrol a street near the airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

People walk down a street covered with trash in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Kenyan police officers, part of a UN-backed multinational, work to tow away a broken down armored car during an operation in the Delmas neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

The commander of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission Godfrey Otunge, right, and the Haitian National Police general director Rameau Normil chat as they await the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/Pool photo via AP)

A Kenyan member of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission stands next to an armored vehicle moments before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrival for a meeting at the base in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/Pool photo via AP)

A Kenyan member of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission stands next to a Haitian police vehicle donated by the U.S. government and damaged by bullet hits during patrols, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/Pool photo via AP)

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen put women in many of the top roles on her new team for her next five-year tenure at the head of the bloc on Tuesday, despite the reluctance of many EU member states to give in to her demand for gender parity.

Von der Leyen put six women among the eight top positions in her team. Her position as EU chief and Kaja Kallas as foreign policy chief were already agreed on by government leaders.

Von der Leyen on Tuesday added Spanish Socialist Teresa Ribero to lead the green transition, along with Ribero also becoming the anti-trust czar. Three other women were also named as Commission vice presidents.

The appointments of the Commission team — which veers to the right after the June elections saw a surge of far right parties — still have to be confirmed.

The appointment as executive vice president of Raffaele Fitto of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's hard right Brothers of Italy party is bound to cause controversy during the parliamentary confirmation hearing in the coming weeks.

Also on Tuesday, von der Leyen gave French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne the industrial portfolio, after French heavyweight Thierry Breton resigned and openly criticized the EU chief for allegedly “questionable governance” on Monday,

It left France with a strong voice in the Commission, and many saw Breton's shock resignation more as a removal by von der Leyen of one of her most open internal critics after exerting pressure on French authorities.

Compounding such problems was the defiance of many of the 27 member states as von der Leyen struggled to get anywhere close to gender parity on her Commission team — they staunchly refused to give her a choice between a male and a female candidate.

She said that originally, EU nations only proposed 22% female candidates before she started to push for more.

“So I worked with the member states and we were able to improve the balance to 40% women and 60% men. And it shows that — as much as we have achieved — there is still so much more work to do,” von der Leyen said.

If she could not get full gender parity in numbers, von der Leyen made sure they were more than well represented in the top jobs.

After days of secret talks with individual European governments about their picks, von der Leyen huddled with the leaders of the political groups at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, to discuss the makeup of her college before making the final announcement.

Now attention will center on the hearings in the European Parliament, where each candidate can be rejected to force a member state to put another candidate forward.

All eyes are expected to be on Fitto.

Greens lawmaker Rasmus Andresen said the appointment of Fitto, a representative of a far-right party, to the post of executive vice president of the Commission is “completely incomprehensible.”

“Can an anti-European manage EU funds,” Andresen asked.

However, von der Leyen said the Commission team had to reflect Italy's weight as a founding member and major economy.

"The importance of Italy is reflected in the portfolio and the executive vice president. And I think the balance is also very well kept,” von der Leyen said.

Even if the Commission's makeup has hardly become the talk of bar rooms or barber shops across the vast EU of 450 million people, it has enthralled the upper echelons of politics and bureaucracy, as they sought to boost one candidate or undermine another.

The Commission proposes legislation for the EU’s 27 member countries and ensures that the rules governing the world’s biggest trading bloc are respected. It’s made up of a College of Commissioners with a range of portfolios similar to those of government ministers, including agriculture, economic, competition, security and migration policy.

The Commission is to start work on Nov. 1, but speculation is rife that it might not get down to business before January.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presents her new team for her next five-year tenure at the head of the bloc, during a press conference at the European Parliament, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Strasbourg. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presents her new team for her next five-year tenure at the head of the bloc, during a press conference at the European Parliament, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Strasbourg. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presents her new team for the next five-year, during a press conference at the European Parliament, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Strasbourg. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives for a session at the European Parliament, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 in Strasbourg. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presents her new team for her next five-year tenure at the head of the bloc, during a press conference at the European Parliament, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in Strasbourg.(AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, left, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, talk prior to the start of a session at the European Parliament, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024 in Strasbourg. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

FILE - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, second right, speaks with from left, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton and European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi during a meeting of the College of Commissioners at EU headquarters in Brussels, on June 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)