The US and Panama are urging the UN Security Council to authorize a 5,550-member force with the power to detain gang members in Haiti to help stop the escalating violence.
The two countries outlined their proposal to transform the Kenya-led multinational deployment in the Caribbean nation into a much larger force in a draft resolution to the UN Security Council.
The first Kenyan personnel arrived in Haiti in June last year and the force was supposed to have 2,500 troops, but it has been plagued by a lack of funding and there are fewer than 1,000 deployed.
Photo: AP
Gangs have grown in power since the assassination of then-Haitian president Jovenel Moise in 2021. They now control 90 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and have expanded their activities, including looting, kidnapping, sexual assaults and rape, into the countryside.
Haiti has not had a president since the assassination.
The six-page draft resolution expresses appreciation to Kenya for leading the multinational force, but reaffirms UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ finding in February that it has not been able to keep pace with the dramatic expansion of the gangs and needed to be scaled up.
Acting US Ambassador to the UN Dorothy Shea on Thursday last week announced that the US was seeking UN authorization for a new Gang Suppression Force.
The draft resolution would authorize UN member nations to transition the mission into such a force in cooperation with Haiti’s government for an initial period of 12 months.
The force would be able to detain and arrest Haitians.
It states that the force would consist of 5,500 uniformed personnel and 50 civilians who would be paid from voluntary contributions.
It does not specify whether Kenya or any other country would contribute troops or police.
The resolution would authorize participants in the new force to conduct independent, intelligence-led targeted counter-gang operations to neutralize, isolate, and deter gangs.
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