BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, APRIL 1, 2005 (CUOPM) Contingents from the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force (SKNDF) and the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force have been deployed to Barbados to join the Regional Security System (RSS) in response to the current situation at the Glendairy Prison there.
The contingent departed Friday morning and will join 100 men from other Caribbean nationals in support of Operation Restore Peace.
The soldiers and police officers were seen off at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport by Minister of National Security, the Hon. Dwyer Astaphan, who in brief remarks encouraged them to be professionals and true ambassadors of St. Kitts and Nevis and to hold the nations flag high.
The local law enforcement officers were joined by their counterparts from Antigua and Barbuda.
The duration of deployment for the St. Kitts and Nevis contingent is unknown at this time.
The SKNDF soldiers will work with their counterparts from Barbados and other RSS member states to ensure that inmates of HM Glendairy Prison are accounted for and in safe custody, while assessments and mitigation efforts are put in place to rectify the situation, SKNDF Public Relations Officer, Lt. Kayode Sutton said.
He said the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force sympathizes with Barbados over the current prison unrest and hopes that the situation would be brought under total control expeditiously.
