(United Nations) UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Sunday for the deployment of an international armed force in Haiti, a poor Caribbean country “paralyzed” by a “dramatic” security crisis under the influence of criminal gangs and under the threat of cholera.
Posted at 7:19 p.m.
Updated at 8:47 p.m.
“The Secretary-General urges the international community, including members of the Security Council, to urgently consider the request of the Haitian government to deploy without delay a specialized international armed force to deal with the humanitarian crisis,” asked Mr. Guterres. in a press release from his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.
Mr. Guterres “remains extremely concerned about the situation in Haiti, which is facing an outbreak of cholera cases in the context of a dramatic deterioration in security that has paralyzed the country” in the Caribbean, according to the spokesperson.
The next Security Council scheduled to discuss the crisis in Haiti is scheduled for October 21, but the UN Secretary General has already sent the Council on Sunday “a letter outlining options for enhanced security support “, in accordance with resolution 2645 adopted on July 15, indicated the same source.
This resolution extended for one year the mandate of the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (Binuh), a structure which replaced the UN Peacekeeping Mission and which tries to help the local police.
” Take over ”
In the letter submitted by Mr. Guterres to the Security Council, and obtained by AFP, the UN Secretary General also denounces “the criminal gangs which have taken control of strategic infrastructures such as the international port of Port- au-Prince and the country’s main fuel terminal (Varreux)”.
In addition, he is alarmed, “in this context there is a resurgence of cholera and the current situation has created the perfect conditions for an exponential increase (in cases) of cholera throughout the country”.
The UN had already warned Thursday against a risk of “explosion” of cholera cases in the country.
After the bacteria was introduced by peacekeepers in 2010, a cholera epidemic raged until 2019, killing more than 10,000 people.
Three years later, the announcement on Sunday of new cases and the first seven deaths raised fears of a new disaster when, with the latest outbreak of violence, the country lacks fuel to supply the population with drinking water and run the hospitals.
” Despair ”
Since the recent detection of the cholera bacillus, which is transmitted by water, eleven cases have been confirmed and 111 are suspected, for the moment only in the capital Port-au-Prince, had indicated Thursday during a conference of press by video from Haiti the UN humanitarian coordinator in the country, Ulrika Richardson.
But “the figures could be much higher,” she said, adding that analyzes were underway abroad to determine whether or not it was the same strain as in 2010.
Since Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s September 11 announcement of higher fuel prices, the country has been the scene of further violence, looting and protests. And since mid-September, the Varreux oil terminal, the largest in the country, has been blocked by armed gangs.
At the end of September, two UN officials had described to the Security Council a “humanitarian catastrophe” in this poor country, where the situation had reached “a new level of despair” and had predicted that this year “4.5 million people (would end up) in crisis level food insecurity or worse, including 1.3 million in an emergency situation”.
Haiti has been mired in a deep economic, security and political crisis for years, and the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 has profoundly worsened the situation with an increasingly strong hold by gangs.