The United States and Canada may lead an international armed force to assist Haiti fighting gangs, the UN special envoy for Haiti said on Wednesday, adding that they have expressed “caution” but not “a definite no.”
Helen La Lime expressed optimism that the UN Security Council would respond favorably to the question of the force that the Haitian government had sought. At a recent conference, she declared that the Haitian National Police would work with an international armed force “that would go against the gangs.”
- Advertisement -
She spoke a day after the UN and Haiti reiterated their calls for assistance to stop the increasing violence in the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, but the United States and Canada showed little interest in deploying their security officers during a Security Council meeting. The two nations most frequently named as potential commanders of an international force in Haiti are these two.
Robert Wood, the deputy US ambassador, told the council that Haiti “must address its continued insecurity challenges,” and urged other nations to aid the country in its endeavors.
Robert Rae, Canada’s UN envoy, stated that lessons must be taken from all prior military operations in Haiti, which failed to bring about the nation’s long-term stability. Future solutions, according to him, “must be led by Haitians and by Haitian institutions,” he stated.
Haiti’s Council of Ministers and Prime Minister Ariel Henry issued an urgent plea on October 7 requesting “the immediate deployment of a specialized armed force, in sufficient quantity,” in order to resolve the crisis that has been exacerbated in part by “criminal actions of armed gangs.”
The call was made by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and La Lime reiterated it on Tuesday because no nations have responded more than three months later.
La Lime said that the Security Council was deeply concerned about the deteriorating security situation in Haiti.
“Gang-related violence has reached levels not seen in years,” she told the council on Tuesday.
According to her, homicides and kidnappings rose for the fourth year in a row in 2022. According to her, there were 1,359 kidnappings last year, or around four per day on average, more than quadruple the figure in 2021. Killings increased by a third to 2,183, affecting all facets of society, including the head of the National Police Academy and a previous presidential contender.
La Lime asserted that sanctions imposed by the US and Canada as well as the Security Council’s unanimous passage of a resolution in October imposing penalties on people and organizations endangering peace and stability in Haiti, beginning with a potent gang leader, are having an effect.
She stated that on the political front, the “National Consensus Agreement for an Inclusive Transition and Transparent Elections,” which was signed on December 21 by a variety of political, civilian, religious, labor union, and private sector authorities, was a positive move and called for elections to be held by February 2024.
But she emphasized on Wednesday that a specialized foreign military force to help the police is the essential component still lacking.
