UN approves Kenyan-led security mission to Haiti

The UN Security Council on Monday authorised a foreign security mission to Haiti, a year after the Caribbean country asked for help to fight violent gangs that have largely overrun its capital, Port-au-Prince.

“More than just a simple vote, this is in fact an expression of solidarity with a population in distress,” Haiti foreign minister Jean Victor Geneus told council members. “It’s a glimmer of hope for the people that have for too long been suffering.”

He told reporters after the vote he hoped the mission could deploy quickly. The 15-member council adopted a resolution, drafted by the US and Ecuador, authorising the Multinational Security Support mission “to take all necessary measures ”— code for use of force.

China and Russia abstained, wary of authorising the blanket use of force under the founding UN Charter. The remaining 13 members voted in favour.

“We have stepped up to create a new way of preserving global peace and security, answering the repeated calls of a member state facing a multidimensional crisis amid alarming spiralling gang violence,” said senior US diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis.

The council also expanded a UN arms embargo to include all gangs, a measure China that wanted. Haitian officials have said guns used by gangs are thought to be mostly from the US. The embargo previously applied only to individuals.

“This is a very important decision. If the council had taken this step at an earlier time, the security situation in Haiti might not have deteriorated to what it is today,” China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun said after the vote.

The response to Haiti’s request for help was delayed due to a struggle to find a country willing to lead a security assistance mission. Kenya stepped forward in July with a pledge of 1,000 police. The Bahamas then committed 150 people, while Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda are also willing to help.

“This mandate is not only about peace and security, but also about the rebuilding of Haiti

— its politics, its economic development and social stability,” Kenyan foreign & diaspora affairs Alfred Mutua said in a post late on Monday on his X account.

Kenya’s legislature must still approve its offer to lead the multinational force.

ELECTIONS

It was not immediately clear how quickly a force could be deployed after Monday’s vote.

“Today’s vote is only the first step. Now, the work of getting the mission off the ground begins,” US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement.

While not sending any troops, the US government hopes to provide more than $100m to back the multinational mission with logistical and financial assistance, that could include intelligence, airlift, communications and medical support.

Countries have been cautious of supporting the unelected administration of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has said fair elections cannot be held with current insecurity. Haiti has had no elected representatives since January. The Security Council stressed an “urgent need” for Haiti to make progress towards “transparent, inclusive and credible electoral processes and free and fair elections”.

The security assistance mission, while approved by the UN Security Council, is not a UN operation. UN peacekeepers were deployed to Haiti in 2004 after a rebellion led to the overthrow and exile of then-president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Peacekeeping troops left in 2017 and were replaced by UN police, who left in 2019.

Haitians are wary of an armed UN presence. The Caribbean country was free of cholera until 2010, when wastewater from an infected Nepalese UN peacekeepers’ camp leaked into a nearby river.

The strain was similar to the one in Nepal, where a cholera outbreak was under way at the time. More than 9,000 people died of the disease, and about 800,000 fell ill.

The council resolution adopted on Monday asks the countries taking part in the security mission “to adopt appropriate wastewater management and other environmental controls to guard against the introduction and spread of waterborne diseases”.