Officers of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) are preparing to head to Haiti as part of a multinational peacekeeping mission led by Kenya.

When asked this week about when the officers are expected to leave Minister of National Security, the Hon. Wayne Munroe offered no answer.  He said, “we don’t give that kind of detail.  As has been shown when one looks at our other CARICOM nations who are deploying there’s a command center and a safe zone at the airport that is responsible for the overall command of the mission.  And of course if you’re gonna have personnel participating in anything you’re not gonna want to be disconnected from decision making.”

The government of The Bahamas committed 150 officers to the Haiti mission in 2023.  Those officers will be deployed in three platoons serving four months at a time for one year.  Munroe said, “all Bahamians would be aware that we are the CARICOM country most affected by the unrest in Haiti. When there is unrest migrants flow out.  When we had occasion to repatriate by our vessels, which I was advised was a less expensive option, you were still looking at an expenditure in the range of  $200,000 to $300,00.”

RBDF Commodore, Dr. Raymond King spoke about the intense training and preparation that the chosen officers have undergone.  He said, “the were apart of a contingent that were trained but the Canadian armed forces and the would have done some work in Jamaica as well.  The thing is safety is paramount.  In those types of operations the risk pf casualty or death is quite possible given the environment and the nature of what’s going on in Haiti at this time.”

An advance team will head to Haiti before the arrival of Bahamian officers.