Canada attending emergency meeting on Haiti amid gang violence

Canada is sending an official to attend an emergency meeting in Jamaica on Monday, following an invite from Caribbean leaders who want to discuss escalating gang violence in Haiti.

A spokesperson for the office of Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Bob Rae, Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, will attend the meeting.

Rae, who is travelling, was not available for a comment on Sunday.

Caricom, the 15-nation Caribbean bloc, said in a statement late Friday that “the situation on the ground remains dire” in Haiti. The Caribbean leaders have also invited the United States, France, the United Nations and Brazil to the meeting.

Unrelenting gang attacks have paralyzed Haiti for more than a week and left it with dwindling supplies of basic goods. Haitian officials extended a state of emergency and nightly curfew on Thursday as gangs continued to attack key state institutions.

Members of the Caricom regional trade bloc have been trying for months to get political actors in Haiti to agree to form an umbrella transitional unity government.  But average Haitians, many of whom have been forced from their homes by the bloody street fighting, can’t wait. The problem for police in securing government buildings is that many Haitians have streamed into them, seeking refuge.

Caricom said Friday that while regional leaders remain deeply engaged in trying to bring opposition parties and civil society groups together to form a unity government, “the stakeholders are not yet where they need to be.”

“We are acutely aware of the urgent need for consensus to be reached,” the statement said.

“We have impressed on the respective parties that time is not on their side in agreeing to the way forward. From our reports, the situation on the ground