Canada is preparing to reduce the number of diplomats at its embassy in Haiti, citing an increasingly unstable security situation in that country.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, indicated Thursday that the government had decided to limit staff at the embassy in Port-au-Prince to essential employees only.
Other countries had also evacuated their non-essential personnel out of Haiti over the past week.
On Tuesday, Canada’s ambassador to Haiti said none of his staff had been evacuated, although some non-essential employees were working from outside the country because gangs had taken over the main airport .
Global Affairs Canada says it made this decision “due to the volatility of the situation, the lack of reliable supply and the need to ensure an effective presence in an unstable context.”
Minister Joly specifies that the temporary reduction will make it possible to maintain a presence in Haiti “given the limited availability of food”.
“We are determined to support Haiti and the Haitian people, today and in the long term,” wrote the minister on the X platform (formerly Twitter). Our immediate priority remains the safety of Canadians and this intervention will ensure that. »
Global Affairs Canada adds that it will temporarily transfer non-essential staff “to a third country”, which is not identified, where they will work remotely.
Security and political crisis
Two days ago, Haitian Prime Minister-designate Ariel Henry agreed to resign once a “presidential transitional council” is formed to oversee a Kenyan-led international military intervention.
Haiti has been plunged into a deep security crisis since mid-2021, when gangs took control of key infrastructure and sparked violent internecine wars that led to the collapse of most of the country’s medical and food systems. country.
The head of Canadian Joint Operations Command, Vice-Admiral Bob Auchterlonie, told The Canadian Press in an end-of-year interview last December that the government had prepared an evacuation plan for Haiti. last year, but had never used it.
Canadians were evacuated from Israel following the Hamas attacks on October 7, and others were evacuated from Sudan last spring after fighting raged there.