When a contingent of security personnel from South Africa arrives in Grenada on Easter Sunday, 8 April, they will add to the ranks of extra regional security specialists who are in the Caribbean for the Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007. The 77 South Africans, whose assistance to the Caribbean was secured since the last quarter of 2006, will be deployed to three CWC host countries. In addition to Grenada they will be in Saint Lucia for one of the two CWC 2007 semifinals and in Barbados for the finals. The South Africans will be incorporated into the regional Joint Task Force that has responsibility for ensuring CWC is conducted in a safe, secure and stable environment and will not be operating on their own. “They will be an integral component of the Task Force and therefore when the Task Force is deployed the South Africans and any other security specialists will deploy with them,” said spokesperson for the Regional Task Force, Lt Colonel Bruce Lovell. “They are not separate and apart from the Task Force.” The South Africans’ specialty skills include explosive detection, hostage negotiation, crowd control management and counter terrorism, as well as Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) weapons detection. The international support being provided to the Caribbean to beef up the security platform for CWC 2007 is described as being critical to a successful CWC. “The hosting of any global games brings challenges and it is no exception for Cricket World Cup. But as a Region we have come together to put wide ranging security arrangements in place. A number of States are also supporting us in a tangible way on the security front and all this will go a long way to ensuring than fans for Cricket World Cup enjoy the games feeling safe and secure,” said Chairperson of the CARICOM Sub Committee for CWC 2007 Security, Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Motley. In terms of assistance from friendly states, to date, specialist security personnel from Colombia and India have been providing assistance to the Joint Task Force in bomb detection. Bermuda and Brazil are also expected to provide assistance with the former providing some 26 personnel to assist in security duties while the latter will be providing an aircraft to assist in troop transportation. It is anticipated that before the tournament ends there will be additional international support to the Task Force. In Grenada the South African contingent will be met by Grenada’s Minister of National Security and Private Sector Development in the office of the Prime Minister, Senator Einstein Louison, Commander of the Regional Forces, Colonel Antony Anderson and that country’s Commissioner of Police, Winston James. Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com