After months of negotiations, the outlines of an international police force to help Haiti, a victim of gang violence, are beginning to take shape, but not quickly enough for the prime minister, who again called on the UN to urgently “act.”
The United States announced on Friday that several countries, led by Kenya, intend to contribute to this force, which Haiti has been asking for a year, but it will undoubtedly take several more months to be assembled, let alone to be deployed effectively .
“The daily life of the Haitian people is painful, which is why the Security Council (…) must act urgently by authorizing the deployment of a multinational police and military mission to support security,” Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry implored on Friday at the UN panel, during a vote is expected shortly, perhaps next week.
“I ask the international community to act, and act quickly,” he stressed, listing the horrors gangs inflict on his population. “Kidnapping for ransom, looting, arson, recent massacres, sexual and gender-based violence, organ trafficking, human trafficking, murders, extrajudicial killings, recruitment of child soldiers, blockades on main roads,” he said.
10 to 12 countries
The gangs that control most of this poor Caribbean country’s capital and are spreading terror have killed more than 2,400 people since the start of the year, according to the United Nations. However, the Haitian National Police is unable to confront them, hence the idea of a multinational force to support this country, which is experiencing numerous political and humanitarian crises.
“From 10 to 12 countries have made concrete offers for this mission” of police security support in Haiti, said the US State Department’s number two, Victoria Nuland, after a ministerial meeting on Haiti on the sidelines of the General Assembly.
She declined to name the countries, but Jamaica, the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda have said they will take part. Kenya, which volunteered to lead the force, offered to provide 1,000 security personnel. The United States intends to provide significant logistical support – air transport, communications, accommodation, medical care – but not ground security forces in the first place.
” Some months “
“This support mission will not replace progress at the political level,” US diplomatic chief Antony Blinken said during the meeting, saying he hoped this force could be deployed “within a few months” because “there is no time for that. ” lose”.
The Secretary of State also announced that Joe Biden’s administration would ask Congress for $100 million in funding. This must include a significant police component, but also a military component to support the Haitian police.
Their mission: to provide operational support to the police, to ensure the safety of critical facilities and traffic routes and to sustainably strengthen the police.
Non-UN force
It is now waiting for the green light from the UN Security Council to set up, even if it would not be carried out under the UN flag.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said: “I hope that members of the Security Council will admit that they cannot use Haiti as a pawn because (Haitians) have suffered for too long at the hands of far too many countries,” without elaborating to be.
A draft resolution drawn up by the United States and Ecuador must be discussed at the United Nations next week, Ms. Nuland said, expressing her “strong support” for the text.
At the United Nations on Tuesday, US President Joe Biden called on the Security Council to authorize sending a multinational force to Haiti “now” because “the people of Haiti cannot wait any longer.”
His Kenyan counterpart William Ruto did the same on Thursday, deeming it “out of the question” to abandon a population terrorized by gangs. For almost a year, Ariel Henry, weakened by the lack of elections in his country since 2016, has been calling for the deployment of such a force. But the international community, burned by past experiences and the threat of being trapped in a deadly quagmire, is struggling to mobilize.