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Haiti's foreign minister, Raina Forbin, pressed the United Nations on Thursday to renew the mandate of the Gang Suppression Force, the international mission battling the armed gangs that control much of the country. The force's authorization expires on September 30 unless the Security Council votes to extend it. Speaking at an Organisation of American States meeting, Forbin said Haiti needs far stronger support to hold the gangs back. "We must now move from solidarity to action," she said.
The Security Council created the force through resolution 2793 last September, replacing a Kenyan-led mission that had fallen short of its funding and staffing goals. The United States and Panama, which lead Council diplomacy on Haiti, are expected to seek re-authorization this month. The mandate set a personnel ceiling of 5,550 and allows the force to run counter-gang operations on its own or alongside Haitian police and the army.
Deployment has been slow. As of early July, only 1,083 military staff had arrived, and full strength is not expected until late in the year. New contingents from Chad, Jamaica, Mongolia and Sri Lanka have started to fill the gap left when Kenyan troops withdrew in April. The force began operations on June 1 and announced its first mission outside the capital, in the Artibonite department, in August.
The gangs have not eased their grip while it builds up. Between April and June, an estimated 1,408 people were killed and 656 injured across Haiti, most of it blamed on gang violence. Kidnapping for ransom and sexual violence remain widespread, and many of the dead were bystanders caught in the crossfire. Armed groups hold large parts of Port-au-Prince and have pushed into communities once considered safe. About 1.5 million people are now displaced inside the country, and roughly 5.8 million face acute food insecurity.
Haiti is also preparing for its first elections in a decade, with a first round set for December 13. Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé remains the sole executive authority, and officials worry the fighting could derail the vote. Around 200,000 people have been sent back to Haiti in the first eight months of this year, and a UN human rights expert recently described conditions there as catastrophic.
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