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.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS