PARAMARIBO – One hundred Surinamese soldiers and police officers are being trained to prepare them for deployment in Haiti. Although it is not yet clear when they will leave for Haiti, they are expected to be deployed in 2025.

The Surinamese  troops are currently waiting for instructions from Kenya that is in charge of coordinating foreign troops in Haiti. Suriname’s Defense Minister Krishna Mathoera announced that the Surinamese troops are being trained in Jamaica by Canadian army specialists. The Surinamese troops will be stationed at Haiti for six months. “We asked who wanted to go to Haiti and many people volunteered to go,” said Minister Mathoera who added that the financial part of this mission is also being prepared to cover transport, housing, food and risk management. “We will take care of everything including insurances and emergency plans,” said Minister Mathoera.

Gang  violence in Haiti has pushed 578,000 people from their homes, according to the UN’s latest estimates. Thousands have been killed and millions pushed into acute hunger amid the unrest. The

number of internally displaced people in Haiti has risen 60% since March, when armed gangs took control of the capital, the United Nations migration agency…[+]