Haiti’s interim leader requests US troops after assassination of President

Haiti’s Taiwan embassy was broken into by the alleged assassins. Pic/AFP

Haiti's interim government said it has asked the US to deploy troops to protect key infrastructure as it tries to stabilise the country and prepare the way for elections in the aftermath of President Jovenel Moïse's assassination. "We definitely need assistance and we've asked our international partners for help," Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph said.

The request for US military support recalled the tumult following Haiti's last presidential assassination, in 1915, when an angry mob dragged President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam out of the French Embassy and beat him to death. In response, President Woodrow Wilson sent the Marines into Haiti, justifying the American military occupation - which lasted nearly two decades - as a way to avert anarchy.

But the Biden administration has so far given no indication it will provide military assistance. For now, it only plans to send FBI officials to assist with the ongoing investigation into a crime that has plunged Haiti into a destabilising battle for power and constitutional standoff.

Colombia probes

Colombia is investigating four companies for hiring 17 former military personnel for the assassination, Jorge Luis, Director of Police, said. "They took them to the Dominican Republic and later to Haiti."

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