The UN Security Council on Monday extended the multinational mission to support the Haitian police by one year, without mentioning its possible transformation into a United Nations force as requested by the new authorities of the country where gangs rule the roost.
Underlining its “deep concern” regarding the situation in the poor Caribbean country where now half of the population is hungry, the resolution adopted unanimously extends until October 2, 2025 the mandate of this multinational Mission to support the security (MMAS) led by Kenya to help the Haitian police overwhelmed by gang violence.
Several months after the Council’s first green light in October 2023, Kenya began deploying its first contingents this summer, now numbering just under 400 police officers, plus around twenty men from Jamaica and Belize. . And its president William Ruto assured last week that he would complete the deployment by January to reach 2,500 police officers.
But while the mission faces a glaring lack of funding and equipment, the president of Haiti’s transition council, Edgard Leblanc Fils, called last week from the podium of the UN General Assembly to a “reflection” on its transformation into a United Nations “peacekeeping operation mission”.
A “crucial” development to “create the necessary conditions for the holding of free and fair elections in the near future,” Haitian Ambassador to the UN Antonio Rodrigue insisted on Monday.
The transitional authorities, appointed after the resignation in the spring of Prime Minister Ariel Henry under pressure from the gangs, hope to organize the first elections since 2016 next year.
“MMAS has made tangible progress, but there is still much work to harness existing momentum to combat gang violence,” commented US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, calling on those who have demonstrated “ skepticism” towards a UN force listening to the will of the host country.
The idea of a peacekeeping mission under the UN flag was first raised a few weeks ago by Washington.
“Don’t turn your back”
The first version of the resolution drafted by the United States and Ecuador called for “beginning planning for a transition from the MMAS to a UN peacekeeping operation.”
But following negotiations marked by opposition from China and Russia, according to diplomatic sources, the text no longer makes any reference to this possibility.
“It is premature to plan any transformation” as long as the MMAS is not fully deployed, insisted Russian Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy.
The resolution simply calls for “accelerating its deployment and encouraging further voluntary contributions and support for the mission.”
“Anyone who opposes this type of peacekeeping mission will have to explain how it puts the interests of the Haitian government and the Haitian people first,” responded a senior American official.
A year ago, the Haitian authorities at the time were not in favor of a new UN mission, the previous ones having left very bad memories.
Peacekeepers from the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), present from 2004 to 2017, had notably brought cholera, leading to an epidemic that caused more than 10,000 deaths, and others had been accused of sexual abuse.
In this context, the Council called on MMAS to “accelerate its deployment” and requested new contributions.
Guinea, led by a junta since 2021, said it was ready on Saturday to send 650 police and gendarmes.
In the meantime, on the ground, the Haitian population continues to suffer the violence of criminal gangs and the consequences of chronic political and humanitarian crises, with more than 700,000 displaced according to the UN.
The number of people facing severe malnutrition now exceeds half of the population (5.4 million), the World Food Program lamented on Monday.
“We must not turn our back on the most serious food crisis” in the Americas and the Caribbean, insisted the head of the UN program Cindy McCain.
According to the latest report from the UN High Commission for Human Rights, at least 3,661 people were killed in Haiti in the first half of 2024, maintaining the high levels of violence seen in 2023.