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Beninese Head of State Patrice Talon appointed Pamphile Zomahoun as Benin’s special envoy to Haiti on Wednesday April 17. Benin has voluntarily pledged to provide 2,000 troops for the future Multinational Security Support Force (MMSS) in Haiti. The appointment of a special envoy to Haiti is a further step in the implementation of the plan to deploy Beninese forces in Port-au-Prince.

The cabinet statement announcing his appointment says nothing about his mission statement in Haiti, but his first priority will be to prepare for the arrival of the 2,000 Beninese troops.

Pamphile Zomahoun will be taking up his post shortly. Aged 53, he is a colonel in the Gendarmerie and trained at Saint-Cyr and Melun in France.

His interlocutors in this mission will be Haitian and international partners such as the United States, Brazil, Canada and Jamaica, all of whom are involved in setting up the multinational force. The details of Benin’s participation are already known.

The 2,000 men are essentially drawn from Benin’s armed forces, namely the army, air force, navy and national guard. It is possible that a very small number of police officers will complete the contingent, which will be trained by Beninese and foreign instructors before leaving for Port-au-Prince.
The timetable for deployment is still unknown. Financing is underway and, according to our information, the main players in the operation are preparing an imminent meeting.