UN extends Kenya-led security mission in Haiti amid rising hunger, violence

The UN Security Council extended on Monday its authorization of the multinational policing mission in crime-ravaged Haiti, but without any call to transform it into a UN peacekeeping mission, as floated by Port-au-Prince.

The resolution, adopted unanimously, expressed "deep concern about the situation in Haiti including violence, criminal activities and mass displacement," and came as the World Food Programme warned half of the country's population now faces acute hunger.

The UN said on Friday that more than 3,600 people were killed the first six months of this year in "senseless" gang violence ravaging the country.

The extension on the Kenyan-led policing mission seeking to assist the Haitian national police in taking back control of areas under gang control will last until October 2, 2025.Though it is operating with the UN and Haitian government's blessing, it is not a UN-run force.

Kenya's envoy to the UN, Erastus Lokaale, called for the security force to "rapidly" deploy the full "2,500 personnel up from the current 410 officers."

Several months after the Council's first green light in October 2023, Kenya began deploying its first contingents this summer.

Last week, Kenyan President William Ruto pledged that the full deployment would be completed by January.

Pushback from Russia, China

But with the mission hobbled by a chronic lack of funding, Edgard Leblanc Fils, the head of transitional council governing Haiti, told the General Assembly last week 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 proposal from Washington.

Haiti's UN ambassador Antonio Rodrigue reiterated Leblanc Fils's call and said that shifting the mission into a peacekeeping force would "create the conditions necessary for free and fair elections in the near future."

The country has not held polls since 2016.

The first version of the Security Council's extension resolution, drafted by the United States and Ecuador, called for planning to begin for transitioning the Kenyan-led mission to a full-blown UN peacekeeping operation.

But after fraught negotiations which were marked by opposition from China and Russia, according to diplomatic sources, the adopted text makes no reference to such a shift.

Instead the resolution "encourages the MSS mission to accelerate its deployment, and further encourages additional voluntary contributions and support for the mission."

Washington welcomed the extension, but said it remained open to transforming the operation into a full UN peacekeeping mission.

"We have seen the MSS mission make tangible progress, but we still have significant work ahead," said US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

"The United States stands ready to heed Haiti's (peacekeeping transformation) call, and we would urge those who have voiced skepticism in this regard to accord proper value to the perspective and consent of the host government."

A senior US administration official called on "anyone who would voice opposition to this type of peacekeeping operation... to explain how they are putting the interests of the Haitian government and the Haitian people first."

China and Russia pushed back, with Beijing stressing that "the UN has sent multiple peacekeeping operations in Haiti."

"The results have never been satisfactory," said China's representative to the Security Council Geng Shuang.

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, which deployed from 2004 to 2017, was tarnished by accusations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers and the force's introduction of cholera to the country, which killed some 10,000 people.

Guinea, ruled by a junta since a putsch in 2021, offered on Saturday to contribute 650 police officers to the mission.

The WFP said Monday that 5.4 million Haitians "struggle to feed themselves and their families every day, representing one of the highest proportions of acutely food insecure people in any crisis worldwide."

"Out of these, two million are in the grips of emergency levels of hunger," it added.

(AFP)