Haiti emergency summit called as gang-fuelled security crisis spirals

Jamaica meeting comes as foreign diplomats evacuated from the Caribbean nation as gangs seek to oust its prime minister.

A regional bloc has summoned Caribbean, North American and European leaders and envoys to an emergency summit on the crisis in Haiti as attempts by gangs to wrest control from the crisis-racked country’s prime minister has caused further chaos.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) called the meeting on Monday in Jamaica’s capital, Kingston, as more foreign diplomats were evacuated from Haiti, including European Union staff and all non-essential US personnel.

Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, the current CARICOM chairperson, said talks seeking to bring “stability and normalcy” to Haiti were ongoing but Haitian stakeholders “are not where they need to be”.

“Time is not on their side in agreeing to the way forward,” Ali warned in a video on social media.

Powerful gangs began launching attacks on key government targets across Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, on February 29.