UN extends Haiti security mission for another year as violence soars

The United Nations Security Council has extended the mandate of a multinational police mission to Haiti for another year, as the Caribbean nation struggles to stem a surge in gang violence and instability.

The resolution, adopted unanimously on Monday, expressed “deep concern about the situation in Haiti including violence, criminal activities and mass displacement”.

It extended the Kenyan-led policing mission, which is seeking to assist the Haitian National Police in taking back control of areas under gang control, until October 2, 2025.

The vote comes just days after the UN reported that at least 3,661 people had been killed in Haiti in the first half of 2024 amid the “senseless” gang violence that has engulfed the country.

Haitian leaders warned last week that they are “nowhere near winning” the battle against the armed groups, which for months have been carrying out attacks and kidnappings across the capital of Port-au-Prince and in other parts of the country.

The violence has displaced more than 700,000 Haitians, according to UN figures.

“There is a sense of urgency because the Haitian people are watching with cautious optimism, they’re really hoping to see clear results,” Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Garry Conille said at an event in New York on Wednesday.

Haiti has reeled from years of violence as armed groups – often with ties to the country’s political and business leaders, and armed with weapons smuggled from the United States – have vied for influence and control of territory.

But the situation worsened dramatically at the end of February, when the gangs launched attacks on prisons and other state institutions across Port-au-Prince.

The surge in violence prompted the resignation of Haiti’s unelected prime minister, the creation of the transitional presidential council, and the deployment of the UN-backed, multinational police deployment led by Kenya.

Yet funding for the police mission – formally known as the Multinational Security Support Mission (MSS) – has lagged, and a UN expert said this month that the force remains under-resourced.

While about 10 countries pledged more than 3,100 troops to the multinational force, only about 400 officers have deployed to Haiti.

Some experts also have questioned whether the police mission can succeed without a clear plan and oversight.

Jake Johnston, an analyst and researcher on Haiti at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said on Monday that “two years after the force was proposed, there is still no actual strategy for peace in Haiti”.

A woman pushes a wheelbarrow near armoured police vehicles in Port-au-Prince, Haiti on September 9 [Ralph Tedy Erol/Reuters]

Edgard Leblanc Fils, the head of a transitional council governing Haiti, told the UN General Assembly last week that he “would like to see a thought being given to transforming the security support mission into a peacekeeping mission under the mandate of the United Nations”.

Such a move would allow it to raise necessary funds, he said, echoing a recent US proposal.

But Washington’s push to transform the police deployment into a UN peacekeeping mission was dropped from Monday’s UN Security Council resolution due to opposition from Russia and China.

The two countries, which both hold veto power on the council, said the multinational police mission should be given more time to establish itself.

“Discussing other options now will only interfere with the implementation of the mission’s mandate. After all, peacekeeping operations are not a panacea,” said China’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Geng Shuang.

“What’s more, Haiti does not have the conditions for the deployment of peacekeeping operations,” he said.

The UNSC unanimously approved a resolution extending the US-backed security force in Haiti for another year.

I continue to believe it is the wrong approach.

Two years after the force was proposed, there is still no actual strategy for peace in Haiti. https://t.co/Xkg837JVg8

— Jake Johnston (@JakobJohnston) September 30, 2024

Many Haitians also remain wary of UN interventions, saying past deployments have brought more harm than good.

For instance, a deadly 2010 cholera outbreak was linked to a UN peacekeeping base, and UN forces in Haiti were also accused of rape and sexual abuse.

Haitian civil society leaders have cautiously welcomed the police mission as a needed measure to help push back the gangs. But they have also stressed that the problems facing the country will not be solved by force alone.

Rights advocates have called for more support and training for Haiti’s national police force, as well as an end to corruption and a Haitian-led political process.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies