Haiti says it supports a UN peacekeeping mission to fight the country’s violent gangs

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council announced Thursday that he supports a U.N. peacekeeping mission to fight gang violence still overwhelming authorities.

It was the first public support announced by a Haitian government official since the U.S. proposed a U.N. peacekeeping mission earlier this month as one way to secure more resources for a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenya that officials say lacks personnel and funding.

“I am convinced that this change of status, whilst recognizing the errors of the past cannot be repeated, would guarantee the full success of the mission,” Edgard Leblanc Fils, council president, said at the U.N. General Assembly.

On Wednesday, Fils met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and others to talk about the state of the mission, which began when the first contingent of Kenyan police arrived in Haiti in late June.

Nearly 400 Kenyan officers are now in Haiti, joined by nearly two dozen police officers and soldiers from Jamaica. The officers fall significantly short of the 2,500 pledged by various countries, including Chad, Benin, Bangladesh and Barbados for the mission.

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The mandate of the current mission expires soon and must be renewed by Oct. 2.

“We would like to see a thought being given to transforming the security support mission into a peacekeeping mission under the mandate of the U.N.” Leblanc said.

A senior U.S. State Department official said Wednesday that the U.S. and some of its partners would like to make changes to the mandate to lay out a path “to become a more traditional peacekeeping operation,” but the Russians and Chinese, who supported the initial mandate, have expressed concerns about doing that.

The U.N. Security Council would ultimately have to vote on a peacekeeping mission, and experts have said it’s unlikely it would support one. They have noted many Haitians would likely balk at it given the introduction of cholera and sexual abuse cases that occurred when U.N. troops were last in Haiti.

Since the early 1900s, there have been at least three major foreign military interventions in Haiti led by the United States and the United Nations.

A U.N. peacekeeping effort was launched in September 1993 and ran until 2000.

Then in February 2004, former President Jean Bertrand Aristide was overthrown a second time and flown out of Haiti by the U.S., which sent troops — as did Canada, France and Chile. They were soon replaced by troops of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, which stayed until 2017.

“Although some of these missions have helped to temporarily stabilize the country, they also have left behind a heavy heritage,” Leblanc said.

The U.N.’s 2004-2017 peacekeeping mission was marred by allegations of sexual assault by its troops and staffers and claims that peacekeepers from Nepal introduced cholera into Haiti’s largest river in October 2010 through sewage runoff from their base. The U.N. has since acknowledged it played a role in the epidemic and that it did not do enough to help fight it, but it has not specifically acknowledged it introduced the disease. The epidemic killed nearly 10,000 people.

Leblanc said that while the current U.N.-backed mission has made some inroads, “a lot still remains to be done.”

He said Haitians continue to live in fear and cannot move around the country freely, unable to work or send their children to school without great risk.

He said the country’s security continues to deteriorate. Armed gangs that control 80% of the capital of Port-au-Prince have only grown more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

“It’s weakening institutions, paralyzing the economy and it’s undermining hope in a better tomorrow. The future of the country is under threat,” Leblanc said.

More than 3,600 people have been reported killed during the first half of this year, a more than 70% increase compared with the same period last year. The violence also has left nearly 700,000 Haitians homeless in recent years and thousands have fled Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

On Wednesday, Dominican President Luis Abinader said he would take “drastic measures” if the mission in neighboring Haiti fails. He did not provide specifics.

Also on Wednesday, Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille noted that about 25% of Haiti’s police officers have left the country, and of those still working, about two are wounded and one killed every week.

He said he expects Haiti to hold elections by November for the first time since 2016 “even though we know we will not have the highest level of security.”

On Thursday, Leblanc said Haiti’s government was thinking of all the “hard-working” Haitians who have left their country because of the insecurity and hoped they would return once conditions improve.

He thanked those showing solidarity with Haitian migrants, “especially those in Springfield.” Haitians living in that Ohio town have said they fear for their safety after former President Donald Trump falsely accused immigrants there of abducting and eating pets.

“The passions that naturally arise during an election campaign should never serve as a pretext for xenophobia or racism in a country such as the United States, a country forged by immigrants,” Leblanc said.