Belize's contingent of BDF soldiers and Coast Guardsmen is making final preparations for a 6 month deployment to Haiti as part of the Multi National Security Support Mission. Though no official announcement has been made, reports tell us that they will leave in January.
Currently the contingent is doing some language training learning French and Haitian Creole as the last phase before deployment to Port au Prince which is the capital of Haiti in which 80% of the city is covered with high power gangs.
But, reports to 7News are that some soldiers are considering the pro's and con's of the mission very carefully because they aren't happy with the allowances they are being offered. They say the allowances are neither standard nor sufficient. The contact who reached out to our newsroom say they are asking for a meeting with the Minister of Defence and Border Security to ventilate their concerns. One soldier told us via text, quote, "We will not go to Haiti for a lee bit of nothing knowing the dangers and the conditions Haiti is in..."
As has been widely reported, that island nation remains in the grips of chaos and lawlessness with no effective central governance while armed gangs control huge area. Most recently 184 people were killed over the weekend in the Haitian capital.
Late this evening, we did speak to the Minister of Defense and he stressed that the soldiers will be getting all the remuneration that the UN funded MSS has designated for them. Often times a portion of this goes back to their headquarters.
He says his ministry is working with the Finance to be able to channel monies to them - which is difficult in a state that has no reliable banking. Marin says once they have a firm deployment date, he and other higher up's will have "a full audience" with the team.
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