By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Safety Council on Friday inspired international locations to offer safety assist to Haiti, together with by way of the deployment of a specialised drive, which was final 12 months requested by Haiti’s authorities to fight gang violence.
U.N. chief Antonio Guterres backed Haiti, proposing final 12 months that a number of states ship a “speedy motion drive” to assist the Caribbean nation because it struggles to fight violent gangs which have largely overrun the capital Port-au-Prince.
Whereas there was broad assist for a speedy motion drive with a number of international locations expressing curiosity in contributing, none has volunteered to steer a deployment, diplomats say.
The U.N. Safety Council adopted a decision on Friday to resume for an additional 12-months the mandate for a U.N. political mission in Haiti. The decision additionally backed the known as for safety assist for the Haitian police.
The 15-member council “encourages Member States, together with international locations within the area, to offer safety assist to the Haitian Nationwide Police … together with by way of the deployment of a specialised drive.”
It additionally requested Guterres to submit a report back to the council inside 30 days, in session with Haiti, outlining the total vary of U.N. assist choices together with “assist for a non-U.N. multinational drive, or a potential peacekeeping operation.”
In October final 12 months, Guterres didn’t counsel {that a} drive be deployed by the United Nations.
U.N. peacekeepers had been deployed to Haiti in 2004 after a insurrection led to the ouster and exile of then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Peacekeeping troops left in 2017 and had been changed by U.N. police, who departed in 2019.
International locations have been cautious of supporting the unelected administration of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who has stated truthful elections can’t be held underneath the present insecurity. Haiti has been with none elected representatives since January.
Henry, who took energy in July 2021 days after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, has pledged to depart workplace by Feb. 7, 2024, after repeatedly suspending elections citing first an August 2021 earthquake that killed greater than 2,000 individuals, after which the gang violence.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Modifying by Alistair Bell)