(United Nations) China has asked the UN Security Council to impose a small arms embargo on Haiti and individual sanctions against gang leaders, as well as to support the dispatch of a force of regional police in this country plagued by violence.
Posted yesterday at 5:52 p.m.
These measures, according to Beijing, can be part of the renewal of the UN political mission (Binuh) expiring Friday evening, which must be voted on Friday at an unspecified time.
The two countries responsible for the Haiti file in the Council, the United States and Mexico, had not planned to go so far in their initial draft resolution and difficult negotiations are continuing on the subject, according to diplomats.
“The situation in Haiti could not be worse” with “the escalating gang violence in Port-au-Prince,” said a spokeswoman for the Chinese diplomatic mission to the UN. “An arms embargo against criminal gangs is the minimum the Council should do in response to an appalling situation,” she added.
According to a draft text obtained by AFP including China’s proposed amendments, the individual sanctions would include travel bans and asset freezes.
Washington is not against sanctions, but they must be the right ones, said a diplomat on condition of anonymity.
Declaring an arms embargo without the creation of a sanctions committee or a group of UN experts to verify its application makes little sense, adds this source, judging that a sanctions regime implies a resolution separated.
For individual sanctions targeting gang leaders, the same observation, continues the diplomat: who to target precisely and for what specific reasons?
All this “deserves more work”, insists this source.
On the Haitian file, Beijing has become a key player in the UN in recent years. The reason ? A Chinese desire for reprisals, assure diplomats, after the recognition of Taiwan by Port-au-Prince. Beijing denies establishing a link between the two subjects.
At UN meetings, China is regularly very virulent in denouncing a country that is sinking into political and economic crisis, despite multiple international aid and various peacekeeper missions until October 2019.
Regional Police
We must fight against arms trafficking in Haiti, push the political authorities to emerge from their lethargy and threaten legal sanctions against those responsible for the violence, insists to AFP a Chinese diplomatic source on condition of anonymity.
The draft text, which should still evolve before a vote, provides for a renewal of the Binuh until October 15, 2023.
It demands an urgent agreement from the Haitian parties, within six months or sooner, to define a new political process leading to presidential and legislative elections.
The embargo on small arms would also concern ammunition and would aim to put a stop to trafficking and kidnappings for ransom, which have become commonplace in Haiti.
The resolution would also demand an immediate halt to violence and criminal activity, as well as an end to road blockades.
China also wants the text to ask the UN Secretary General to initiate consultations with countries in the region and regional organizations to support the Haitian police and provide for the deployment of a multinational police force.
For Washington, however, it would be necessary beforehand to consult the Haitian authorities to obtain their agreement, a diplomatic source said.
At least 89 people have been killed in a week in clashes between gangs in Port-au-Prince, where prices are soaring and fuel shortages are getting worse, threatening crucial humanitarian aid for residents.