An official delegation of the Haitian government, led by interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry is in
Brussels for the two-day EU Latin America and Caribbean summit taking place on Monday July
17 and Tuesday July 18, 2023, in the Belgian capital. The summit does not seem to bear much
fruit for the country as the stakes are a bit too high for a country in crisis. The only project that
seems to be able to see the light of day is in the field of education where 60 countries (including
27 from the EU, will try to forge strategic partnerships with transformative aim for their societies
by attracting a significant part of the 300bn euros that the new Global gateway strategy intends to
mobilize. In the words of the EU ambassador to Haiti, Stefano Gatto, scouting for investors to
come to Haiti is very difficult due to the security conditions in the country, especially in the
aftermath of the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. In the interview accorded the media,
the EU ambassador was very diplomatic in his choice of words to describe the Haitian situation,
all the while stressing the EU’s position of supporting the state of Haiti and not the actual
government in place. The only alternative the EU sees in Haiti is a broader consensus coming
from the Haitians themselves, but this appears to be elusive to the actual Haitian leaders, two
years into the crisis.
To expand on the point, He expressed his frustration at the December 21, 2022, agreement which
binds the Prime Minister and his allies and failed to expand in order to set up the Provisional
Electoral council that will lead to the holding of general elections in the not-so-distant future. But
he cautioned that they are also realistic and know that the elections cannot be held under the
current conditions, where gangs continue to occupy large areas in the capital and most provincial
towns. With the war going on in Ukraine, Haiti and its problems have taken a back seat to
international issues, and this is also affecting how the international community responds to the
Haitian crisis. Precisely, according to the ambassador, with the Russian army 300 km from the
borders of the EU, all the security debate concerns this major conflict, and no commitment can
be expected in Haiti, whose current leaders are calling for the intervention of an international
force to solve the security problem. As such the country is seen as a puzzle without a solution.
In an article that appeared in yahoo news, the UN Security Council on Friday (July 14) urged the
international community to support Haiti’s police, but stopped short of any concrete moves to
create an international intervention force that is being called for by the crisis-wracked country.
The Council’s unanimously adopted resolution encourages member states to provide security
support to the Haitian National Police,” including through ” the deployment of a specialized
force. But the text, which was focused on a one-year extension of the mandate for the special UN
political mission to Haiti, BINUH, stopped short of making any direct plans for such a force. The
15 member states asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to submit a report within 30 days on
the full range of support options for improving security, in particular in fighting arms trafficking,
providing police training and bolstering a “non-UN multinational force, or a possible
peacekeeping operation.” For months, Guterres and Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry have
called for an international force to help quell the mounting violence, but there has been little
action as no country has stepped up to lead the operation. Violence meanwhile has continued “to
escalate and spread,” Guterres said in a report Friday, citing murders, kidnappings, rape of
women and girls, looting, and the displacement of thousands of people. Between January and
June homicides increased by 67.5% compared to the second half of 2022, according to the
document, which said some victims had even been beheaded.

Finally, the women’s world cup kicks off on Thursday, July 20, 2023, and the Grenadieres are
expected to play their first match against England on Saturday.